Aeschylus' AGAMENNON to Run Nov. 12 - 29 at La MaMa E.T.C.
by BWW News Desk

Historically,
English
adaptations of
Aeschylus'
"Agamemnon"
have rendered
its ancient
Greek poetry
into proven
English poetic
forms. The
results have
been often good
and occasionally brilliant. Yet the original Greek
meters provide clues as to how a section of a
play was performed (sung, spoken or spoken to

musical accompaniment). This has prompted
Alexander Harrington, a director known for his
mastery of oratorical theater, to attempt
something radical: approximating Aeschylus'
actual, original poetic meters in a new
translation. This intrepid idea has resulted in a
script of surprisingly clear stage speech and
unusual poetic quality. It will debut November 12
to 29, 2009 in La MaMa's large Annex Theater,
performed by The Eleventh Hour Theatre
Company.
The production will also feature an original score
by Michael Sirotta, a principal composer of La
MaMa's Great Jones Repertory, who is setting the
sung and chanted sections to music.
Greek tragedy combined song, speech and musically accompanied speech (whether it was
chant, recitative or underscored speech is unknown). The plays were written in verse, but of a
different nature from ours. Greek meters are based on vowel length, while English meters are
based on syllable stress. Some Greek meters (iambs, trochees, anapests, and dactyls) are easy
to replicate in English; others cannot be exactly reproduced. Generally, the chorus' spoken
dialogue was iambic; this is close to our every day speech. The principal characters for the most
part also spoke in iambs. But in more lyrical sections, the chorus used a variety of meters. It
makes the translation trickier, but it also presented Harrington and Sirotta their greatest
opportunities for creativity, since it is the most evocative in a musical sense. Approximately half
31 of 104
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102