This Restless House: an adaptation of Aeschlyus' Oresteia

Description

Aeschylus' Oresteia opens with Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter to the gods; an act which sets in motion a bloody cycle of revenge and counter-revenge. When he in turn is killed at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, their son Orestes takes up the mantle of avenging his father, continuing the bloodshed until peace is ultimately found in the rule of law. Zinnie Harris reimagines this ancient drama, using a contemporary sensibility to rework the stories, placing the women in the centre. Orestes' leading role is replaced by his sister Electra, who as a young child witnesses her father's murder and is compelled to take justice into her own hands until she too must flee the Furies. This Restless House premiered at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in April 2016 in a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Zinnie Harris's plays include the multi-award-winning Further than the Furthest Thing, produced by the National Theatre/Tron Theatre in 2000 (1999 Peggy Ramsay Playwriting Award, 2001 John Whiting Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe First award); Nightingale and Chase (Royal Court Theatre, 2001); By Many Wounds (Hampstead Theatre, 1999); and Silver Whale Fish and Master of the House (BBC Radio Four). Solstice, the first in a trilogy of plays, was staged in 2005 by the RSC, who had already presented Midwinter in 2004; the last, Fall, was staged at the Traverse, Edinburgh, in 2008. The Wheel was staged at the Traverse Theatre by the National Theatre of Scotland and was joint winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award 2011. Zinnie Harris has received an Arts Foundation Fellowship for playwriting, and was Writer in Residence at the RSC, 2000-2001.