Agamemnon, a performance history: Homecoming & Lyric

Agamemnon, a performance history is a free interactive/multimedia ebook on the production history of Aeschylus’ ancient tragedy, Agamemnon. Created by the University of Oxford’s Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (the APGRD), the ebook draws on a unique collection of archive material and research at the APGRD and beyond; it uses images, film, bespoke interviews with creative practitioners and academics, and digital objects to tell the story of a play that has inspired countless interpretations onstage and onscreen, in dance, drama, and opera, across the globe from antiquity to the present day. 

This instalment comprises of two related chapters, Homecoming & Lyric. Our Homecoming chapter asks what kind of character is Agamemnon? How has his masculinity been understood at different times and in different places? How easy is homecoming for soldiers after a war? The Lyric chapter focuses on the enslaved Trojan Priestess, Cassandra and the Chorus of old men from Argos, who both have a central role in this play and yet have little or no power to make things happen. The Choral Odes and Cassandra's prophetic song have proved both a challenge and a cue for enormous creativity in many modern productions and versions.