Orestes in Mosul

An apparently endless chain of murders and blood feuds: this is the plot of the Oresteia. Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigeneia, his wife Clytaemnestra murders him but is in turn murdered by their own son. Aeschylus’ tragedy is considered the foundation myth of Western civilization, in which the principles of blood feuds and ‘an eye for an eye’ were replaced with jurisprudence, integration and reconciliation.

In Orestes in Mosul, Milo Rau combines the tragedy of tragedies with contemporary political conflicts. With an international ensemble of Iraqi and European actors he presents an Oresteia for our time. The central question is: how will the chain of violence between the parties in the Syrian-Iraqi civil war and their international allies ever come to an end? Milo Rau imbues the tragedy with its ancient grandeur, but simultaneously connects it with topical questions. What might the Oresteia – rehearsed and performed in Western Europe and Mosul – mean today?

• The award-winning Swiss director Milo Rau makes gripping films and plays that blend art, history and politics. At Kaaitheater, he has presented Hate Radio, Five Easy Pieces and Compassion – History of the Machine Gun, among others. Milo Rau has been the artistic director of NTGent since 2018.

‘In Orestes in Mosul, Rau and his dramatist Stefan Bläske present a crystal-clear conjunction of the tragedy of the past with Mosul today.’ — DE STANDAARD

‘Orestes in Mosul is a new standard in the modern adaptation of classical texts.’ — NRC HANDELSBLAD