Agamemnon, a performance history: Endings & Iconography

Agamemnon, a performance history is a free interactive/multimedia ebook on the production history of Aeschylus’ ancient tragedy, Agamemnon. Created by the University of Oxford’s Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD), the ebook draws on a unique collection of archive material and research at the APGRD and beyond; it uses images, film, bespoke interviews with creative practitioners and academics, and digital objects to tell the story of a play that has inspired countless interpretations onstage and onscreen, in dance, drama, and opera, across the globe from antiquity to the present day. This third/last instalment comprises of two related chapters, Endings? and Iconography. Endings? considers what it has meant to stage Agamemnon as a single play, when it is itself only the first play in a trilogy. Is there closure? How effective is this as a stand-alone play? Just as the opening scene of the tragedy has resonated across time and place, so too has the final scene of violence and political insurrection. Iconography looks at the strong iconographic tradition surrounding this play - from Agamemnon's chariot to the bath in which he is murdered, the carpet of tapestries to Clytemnestra's axe. The chapter revolves around a photographic gallery showcasing how modern productions have tackled the tragedy's iconic moments.