The Oresteia

In a sculpture garden in northeast Minneapolis, Hero Now performed this adaptation of Greek playwright Aeschylus’s trilogy about murder, revenge, and justice following the Trojan War,

Ours was the first professional production of the script, adapted and translated by Rob Hardy, poet and classicist of Northfield, Minnesota. The setting evoked Athens, where centuries ago its people struggled with the questions raised by the play: Is murder ever justified? Who decides whether murder is punished? How is moral order restored?

Audience Voting

The Oresteia ends with the trial of Orestes, who is accused of murdering his mother. But for the Athenian audience, Orestes’s crime may not have been as serious as his own mother’s crime, which was murdering her husband, the king of Argos.

We had the audience vote on the matter. At the beginning of the second act each audience member received two stones, one to use if they voted to acquit, the other to use if they voted to convict. We collected the votes and announced the results after each show.

CLE Discussion

Following one of the performances, Professor Eric Janus, Dean Emeritus of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, led a panel discussion on the subject of the ancient Greeks’ contributions to Western legal institutions. Sitting on the panel were the Honorable Kevin Ross, Professor Duchess Harris of Macalester College, and Professor Clara Shaw Hardy of Carleton College. Lawyers from around Minnesota were invited to attend, and their attendance earned them a credit for Continuing Legal Education.

Classics Night

On Friday, September 16, and Sunday, September 18, Professor Clara Shaw Hardy and her husband, Rob Hardy, who prepared the script, led a discussion on the history of the play and on adapting and translating Aeschylus. Students from Macalester, Carleton, Hamline, and the University of St. Thomas attended on these nights.

Cast