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ORESTES

The Oxford Greek Play, 2005

In October 2005 the ancient drama 'Orestes' will be performed in Oxford. It tells the story of a teenager who, with the help of his sister, murders his mother. Lauren Curtis, Marketing and Education Director for Orestes, explains a bit more about the play and compares it to a tragic murder that occurred in Wyoming in 1983.

Wyoming,USA

In November 1983, 16-year-old Richard Jahnke, helped by his sister Deborah, murdered their father outside their home in Wyoming, USA .

Richard had repeatedly reported his father to the authorities because of the way he physically abused his wife and children. Finally Richard took the law into his own hands and shot his father dead. Years later, Richard is still tortured by guilt about what he did.

When adolescents kill their parents, the world is shocked. Imagine, then, the audience's horror at the first performance of Euripides' play ORESTES in 408 BC, in ancient Athens. ORESTES is the story of a young man who, helped by his sister Electra, kills their mother Clytemnestra because she has murdered their father Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. The play opens with Orestes condemned to death by the people of Mycenae, and tormented by guilt. The Chorus asks:

"What sickness, what weeping, what anguish

Is sharper than the sin that stains

A hand guilty of a mother's murder?"

The story is part of the famous legend of Mycenae, which the audience would have known well from other plays such as Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON. But Euripides gives his version a new and shocking twist by concentrating on the question of whether Orestes is really to blame, and on Orestes' youth and vulnerability.

In 1980s Wyoming, the court decided that Richard Jahnke was not entirely to blame for the murder of his father. The killing was considered an act of self-defense, and so his jail sentence was reduced. What about Orestes? Later in the play, a Messenger reports to Electra the effect that Orestes' speech of self-defense has had on the people of Mycenae:

"He did not convince the assembly, although his words seemed plausible.

Prepare your dagger, then, or make a noose from your rope;

For you must leave this light.

Your royal birth was no use to you."

What do you think? Is it ever acceptable for a child to kill his parent? Why do you think we find it particularly horrifying when a young person commits murder?

At the end of the play, the only thing that saves Orestes' life is the intervention of the god Apollo. Orestes says,

"All ends well now ", but does it really? How easy is it to forget events like this? What point do you think Euripides might be making by ending the play in this way? Richard Jahnke's story inspired a film called Right to Kill ? Perhaps this might be a good alternative title for ORESTES.

Euripides' ORESTES is a play whose themes have strong relevance for young people in society today. ORESTES will be performed (in ancient Greek with English subtitles) at the Oxford Playhouse in October. Visit www.orestes.co.uk for more details, including further educational resources.

Lauren Curtis