Oresteia

Valentino Mannias

"Aeschylus' Oresteia is a classic tale that tells of the birth of democracy in the West and the relationship that men and women have with life. It was probably performed from sunrise to sunset, and the audience participated in the dances and songs around the altar, as gospel choirs do today in the churches in Harlem.
Our group is made up of actors, musicians and directors and is intertwined with the art of Cantu a Tenòre, united by the need to make the ritual function of these arts come alive in a relationship with the community.

This involvement of the community takes place by tackling the issues that most concern it: death and democracy. In the ancient texts of the Greek tragedies that have been handed down to us, the central role of this plurality is very evident. It was expressed through the extensive interventions by the chorus, which uses singing to try and find meaning for the pain or sudden joy that unexpected events produce.

One of the key concepts we will work on with Cantu a Tenòre is that of the chorus, here understood as the initial group of actors from which the characters of the play are born.
From the song of the ox, king Agamemnon comes to life, from the lamb's cry comes Oreste's lament, and from the imitation of the wind and the bells comes Cassandra, the prophetess who no-one believed. The tenors in the role of chorus, freed from the bonds of folklore and valorized for its natural expression, is the very heart of the ancient tragedies, nourishing the soul of the text and mysteriously illuminating the areas that are most difficult for contemporary sensibilities.

From this premise we intend to follow the journey of Aeschylus. This is a story that records the change in society from a law based on revenge, where the dead dictate over the living, to democratic law, where the living try to understand what is right by establishing the first court in human history. Sharing the need to rediscover the spirit at the origin of our laws and our culture, the art of theatre seems to be able to play a fundamental role today by evoking history to reflect on our present. It would therefore still seem that this encounter at the theatron is useful for retracing the pain that leads to the heights of wisdom, worshiping at the altar of Dike, the Goddess of justice, and respecting the guest who comes to our house".
Valentino Mannias

Running time: 92 minutes