Milo Rau, the artistic director of the NTGent, had the idea of staging a present-day version of Aeschylus’ Oresteia while he was conducting research for his play Empire in 2016 in northern Iraq on the frontline facing ISIS. “It is as if you were in a television scene and in a classical epic at the same time”, as Rau puts it. How is it possible to stop the never-ending chain of violence in which the parties of the Syrian-Iraqi civil war and their Western allies find themselves? In the first two parts of Aeschylus’ Oresteia there appears to be no way out. The only one who can stop this violence is Athena: she calms down the goddesses of vengeance by allotting them a place in society. Where hate has not helped, the loving embrace now succeeds.
Milo Rau retains the ancient grandeur of the tragedy, but links it to present-day issues, with an international ensemble. What can the Oresteia mean today, rehearsed and staged in Western Europe and in Mosul? Orestes in Mosul by Milo Rau will be the first NTGent production to be presented at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, in what we hope will be a long-term collaboration between our two theatres.
- Cast and Team
- Gallery
- Trailer
Orest in Mossul
Staging: Milo Rau & Ensemble
After: Aischylos
Zürich-Premiere: 5. October 2019
Cast and Team
With
Duraid Abbas
Ghaieb
Ghaieb
With
Susana
AbdulMajid
AbdulMajid
With
Elsie
de Brauw
de Brauw
With
Risto
Kübar
Kübar
With
Johan
Leysen
Leysen
With
Bert
Luppes
Luppes
With
Marijke
Pinoy
Pinoy
Staging
Set Design
ruimtevaarders
Dramaturgy
Stefan Bläske
Film
Daniel Demoustier, Moritz von Dungern
Cut
Joris Vertenten
Costume
An De Mol
Light design
Dennis Diels
Composition and arrangement
Saskia Venegas Aernouts
Audience Developer
A production of NTGent & Schauspielhaus Bochum.
A coproduction with Tandem ArrasDouai.
With the support of Romaeuropa Festival. With the support of the Flemish government and the City of Ghent. This performance was realised with the support granted thanks to the Belgian Tax Shelter system.
Gallery
Trailer
©NTGent