Electre / Oreste

Ivo van Hove combines two plays by Euripides that tell the story of Electra and Orestes, or how a brother and sister find each other and unite in vengeance.

After the immense success of Damned, Ivo van Hove returns with a new grand fresco, linked to the family of the Atrides. Stating that all his projects are born of a "love at first sight" for a text, he combines two plays by Euripides that tell the story of Electra and Orestes in its continuity, or how a brother and sister meet again and unite in the vengeance they foment against their mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthe.
This creation recounts an entire episode in the history of the Atreides, the last in a long cycle of crimes and vengeance. The father of Electra and Orestes, Agamemnon was murdered by his wife and her lover on his return from the Trojan War. Aegisthus now reigns in Argos, and young Orestes has been sent into exile. Electra takes place years later, when Aegisthus has called for Orestes' murder. The latter, obeying an oracle from Apollo, shows up as a stranger at his sister's house, with whom he eventually avenges their father. The second tragedy continues the story after Orestes' matricide, when he falls prey to the Erinyes and must answer for his deed before the law.