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Podcast: "Agamemnon" director Sonny Das discusses relevance of play's themes in modern society.Subscribe to NorthwesternU podcasts on iTunes or SoundCloud.
EVANSTON--The premier staging of British actor/playwright Simon Scardifield’s BBC Radio 3 adaptation of “Agamemnon” will open the new year at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts. The production is directed by Northwestern M.F.A. Directing Candidate Sonny Das.
“Agamemnon” will run Jan. 27 to Feb. 5 in the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, on the Evanston campus. A post-show discussion with the director and cast is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2.
Agamemnon, King of Argos, returns from Troy after 10 years of bloody battle and a victory whose price included the life of his first-born. Meanwhile his wife, Queen Clytemnestra, has been patiently awaiting her husband’s return while planning her vengeance for their daughter’s murder. When the King arrives, an unexpected surprise accompanies his fateful return to a war-weary city and a house savagely torn apart by sorrow.
Director Das suggests Greek dramatist Aeschylus’ millennia-old tragedy examining war, justice, responsibility and revenge feels timely in the post-election climate of today.
“In ‘Agamemnon,’ the facts and the truth aren’t always the same thing, and if the facts continue to challenge what we believe, the truth no longer comforts,” Das said. “Like the Greek Chorus, we must ask questions of ourselves and the events around us. What do we believe? Where does our inner morality connect to justice in the world around us? Only we can answer what is our line? Do we ever cross it?”
“Agamemnon” opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $20-$25 for the general public and $6-$10 for students with a valid ID. Tickets are available on the the Wirtz Center website, by phone at 847-491-7282 or by visiting the Wirtz Center box office in the Barber Theater lobby at 30 Arts Circle Drive on the Evanston campus.
The Wirtz Center is a member of the Northwestern Arts Circle.
The Arts Circle brings together film, humanities, literary arts, music, theatre, dance and visual arts. Search for events across all artistic disciplines at Northwestern Arts Circle.
