Aeschylus: Agamemnon (1983 TV) part 3/10

[madcow88]

gay

[marrag1]

man this play is so hard to follow and i have to write an essay on this for my class lol but i loved the Clytemnestra part it actually got more exciting with the drum beats

[Ramanujan88]

God, I love the drum, this speaking singing!

[theblueheretic]

The actor who plays Klytemnestra is absolutely fantastic. I don't understand the steady drumming, but clearly Peter knew what he was doing. Thank you so much for uploading these, even with youtube, this kind of treasure is still hard to find.

[GreatGrumbledook]

Dear me! That chorus sounds like drunken English football rowdies; to quote Shakespeare: "O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably." and there is no harm in using women for women roles!

[kaitwospirit]

You do realize that this is being done in the way that the ancient Greeks did it, right? That means the men shout "like drunken English football rowdies" and the women are played by men; because that's how it was done in ancient Greece.

[GreatGrumbledook]

@kaitwospirit: No, it was not! For if it were done in the same way as the ancient Greeks did it the actors and the choir must have spoken Greek, what they did not do and thus it was not 100% like in old Greek; thus using women for female roles would be no more against the play than not performing it in ancient Greek! And the choir is supposed to be old men and they sound like football rowdies here and the Greeks did invent a lot of sports but no football!

[GreatGrumbledook]

@fireworksoflife: First for the insults I will call you a knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch...

[GreatGrumbledook]

@fireworksoflife: ...one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition. Second I wonder what this stupid word Orphic theatre should mean here! For it is clear that someone attempted to reproduce Greek theatre here and no Orphic thing at all: Aeschylus is strictly Greek orthodox, his god and heroes are those of Homer and Hesiod, those known from the Iliad, Odyssée and the Theogony. So what is this whining?

[kloiten]

@GreatGrumbledook

That was the most wannabe, ridiculous, and fake Early Modern English I have ever read. It reminds me easily of the Shakespearean insult assignment I did in ninth grade.

You also have brought out rather idiotic points. How would most of the audience understand Greek? And how does it being in English diminish the how much Greek style one could have put into it?

You might as well point out that one shouldn't try to put on Ancient Greek plays.

[GreatGrumbledook]

@kloiten: Nope, but if you did your assignment properly you would certainly remember that these are the very words of the Earl of Kent himself, taken from King Lear by the divine Shakespeare; and because of this it sounds rather quaint; while you should try to understand my point at least a bit: If one does not perform the play in Greek it is not 100% authentic and therefore there would be no harm to use women for the female roles.

[kloiten]

@GreatGrumbledook

Well, then, I humbly tip my hat to you, sir, saluting your knowledge, and beg your pardon for my intellectual ignorance.

I do understand your point. However, I firmly maintain mine, since you must agree that it is thus, under your pretexts, impossible to hold a play of Ancient Greek style since 1) no person knows what their tongue sounded like, and 2) those who know Ancient Greek primarily read and write it.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@kloiten [due to the HAL 9000 mad computer phenomena I will make the answer via my new internet incarnation] Well, so you agree that it is not 100% authentic by using the English tongue and therefore one can also employ women for the female roles! At the age of Shakespeare women were still banned the stage but no one considers it amiss if the female roles are played by women; and still I think the chorus is ill-done; have you seen the Theban plays on this very same channel?

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@kloiten: If not watch at least the Antigone by Sophocles and though it is set in a modern military, somewhat Word War I era style, the chorus works much better and does not sound like a ridiculous chanting but as one expects a Greek chorus to sound like; plus the female roles are played by women; while I accept your apology since you have not insulted me but my point of few and in my case it is not Sir but Madam, Lady or Miss; with my new Shakespeare related name this appears more clearly.

[kloiten]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar

Oh, I am so very sorry! I know it is wrong to assume that the person I am speaking to is male on the Internet, but one cannot just ask before every conversation. It would make for very uncomfortable situations.

I didn't wish to insult you or your opinions with my assumption or my views on the subject; although I admit that I was rude in my first post, I cannot help but think that you are not all right. I actually agree that women should also participate in this kind of play..

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@kloiten: That is alright, my old name sounded rather male; and I think many people make the mistake to be too rude in internet conversations and it is this which often lets to needless arguments, because I tend to react on any insult on the way given below (and thanks to Shakespeare dreaming up fancy insults is not really a problem); but for me watching this was a great disappointment as I do not think that it works the way it is shown here; and I never had the luck to see a decent performance.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@kloiten: So for me the seven plays of Aeschylus only live in my mind; but I am always shocked if someone is able to ruin such a play with follies like these; especially as Clythaimestra is depicted as a headstrong, subtle and royal matron and you need an actress depicting here properly; the middle aged Katherine Hepburn would have been ideal; and the masks in combination with the frantic gestures are not a pleasure to watch at all; but maybe I am to stern and demanding.

[kloiten]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar

..but, having never seen an all-male in my life in a play, I think this play on this page is a very interesting experience.

[xantixeverything]

@GreatGrumbledook ...really?

its ancient greek STYLE.

i highly doubt they would have been able to speak ancient greek.

thats one of the most ridiculous things i've ever read.

[GreatGrumbledook]

@xantixeverything: So, until they do not speak Greek they can have women to play the female roles than!

[hispanicgringo]

i want one of those masks

[sisbos]

Agamemnox

[toozybug]

I love this play. but i would like to ask if there'sa any other way to post the other two plays in the trilogy?

[ShakespeareAndMore]

In a few months...then I'll have access to both the hardware and VHS tapes