Clytemnestra is an ancient Greek tale, brought into the not-too-distant future by Gwyneth Lewis. It stars Jaye Griffiths as the titular character, whose daughter Iphigenia is raped and killed by a rival tribe, Nick Moss as Agamemnon, the husband who gave Iphigenia away to her killers, and Jonah Russell as Aegisthus, another rival who becomes Clytemnestra's lover. As the supernatural furies, Adam Redmore and Nia Gwynne drive forward their schemes. I was really impressed by how real the characters already seem, without costumes or sets. A credit to the actors and to Amy Hodge's direction.
A story of betrayal, murder, revenge, desire and despair, Clytemnestra is certainly high drama. In the scene I witnessed being put together, a claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic atmosphere is created by dance and some quite terrifying music. However, Amy assures me that it's not all dark - the Chorus provide some light relief with bawdy humour and the extreme physicality of the piece is counterbalanced with beautiful poetic language.
After the rehearsal, Amy spoke to me about the direction of Clytemnestra and why it is an exciting, relevant piece for today:
Clytemnestra is showing at Sherman Cymru 18 April-5 May. Tickets are available here and remember all tickets are half price for under 25s.
Sorry about poor editing on videos - trying to edit HD video on a non-HD computer clearly does not work.
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