Orestes in Mosul
Milo Rau had the idea of staging a present day version of Aeschylus’ Oresteia while he was conducting research for his play EMPIRE (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 neverending 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: death has a domino effect – Orestes is pursued by the goddesses of vengeance after he murders his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. He did this out of revenge because the two of them killed Orestes’ father, Agamemnon (and his mistress Cassandra). For her part, Clytemnestra murders her husband Agamemnon out of revenge because he sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia to the wind to go to war with Troy. 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 ORESTEIA mean today, rehearsed and staged in Western Europe and in Mosul?
"A new standard for adaptation of classics"Kester Freriks - NRC Handelsblad
"Breathtaking from the first minute to the last"Koen Van Boxem - De Tijd
cast
- Susana AbdulMajid
- Duraid Abbas Ghaieb
- Bert Luppes
- Elsie de Brauw
- Marijke Pinoy
- Johan Leysen
- Risto Kübar
credits
costume design
An De Molset design
ruimtevaarders (Karolien De Schepper, Christophe Engels)musicians video
Suleik Salim Al-Khabbaz, Saif Al-Taee, Firas Atraqchi, Nabeel Atraqchi, Zaidun Haithamdramaturgy
Stefan Bläskedirection
Milo Rautext
Milo Rau & ensemblelight design
Dennis Dielsvideo technique
Stijn Pauwelswith support of
Romaeuropa Festivalthis production was realized with the support of
The Belgian Tax Sheltercoproducer
Schauspielhaus Bochum, Tandem Scène Nationale (Arras-Douai)surtitling
Katelijne Laevens , Noemi Suarez Sanchezcreation surtitles
Eline Bankeninternship direction assistant
Bo Alfaro Decretoninternship dramaturgy
Liam Rees, Eline Bankendresser
Micheline D'Hertoge , Nancy Colmanstage technique
Jeroen Vanhouttelight technique
Dennis Diels , Geert De Roddersound technique
Dimitri Devosstage manager
Marijn Vlaemincktour manager
Elli De Meyerproduction management
Noemi Suarez Sanchezdirection assistant
Katelijne Laevenschoir video
Ahmed Abdul Razzaq Hussein, Hatal Al-Hianey, Younis Anad Gabori, Mustafa Dargham, Abdallah Nawfal, Mohamed Saalim, Rayan Shihab Ahmed, Hassan Tahaactors video
Baraa Ali, Khitam Idress, Khalid Rawimusical arrangement & composition
Saskia Venegas Aernoutsediting
Joris Vertentenfilm
Daniel Demoustier, Moritz von Dungern- 19 Dec 19 — Les Inrockuptibles (FR): "Orestes in Mosul" in top 5 beste theaterstukken volgens Patrick Sourd
- 9 Dec 19 — Blog jmp: Review Orestes in Mosul
- 29 Nov 19 — La Vanguardia (ES): El "escandaloso" Milo Rau estrena en España "Orestes in Mosul" (morgen op Festival de Otoño in Madrid)
- 27 Nov 19 — La Razon (ES): Milo Rau, llega a Madrid el teatro censurado (over Orestes in Mosul, binnenkort te zien in Madrid)
- 25 Nov 19 — El País (ES): "Milo Rau, el dramaturgo que colecciona vetos y amenazas" (interview met Milo Rau over Orestes in Mosul)
- 13 Nov 19 — News24 (IT): "Oreste non abita più là" (recensie Orestes in Mosul)
- 7 Nov 19 — Süddeutsche Zeitung (DE): "Verdammtes Jahrhundert"
- 5 Nov 19 — Süddeutsche Zeitung: Dämonen (over Orestes in Mosul)
- 4 Nov 19 — Life PR (DE): "Um alles in der Welt -Lessingtage 2020: Das gesamte Programm ab 1. November im Vorverkauf" (over Orestes in Mosul in Hamburg)
- 4 Nov 19 — La Razon (ES): "Los lenguajes del teatro" (over Orestes in Mosul)