Acting Greek Tragedy

Recording 8 - Orestes and Electra (with Pylades), from Sophocles’ Electra – Richard Brindley and Kate Rayner (with Joe McDonnell as Pylades).

Orestes and his friend Pylades assume the parts of foreigners, who are bringing back home the ashes of Orestes, who has supposedly died in a chariot race and been cremated abroad. This deception is meant to get them welcomed as strangers into the palace, with their true identity unsuspected. On arriving, they first meet Electra and the chorus, and so present their story to her just outside the palace, by the altar of Apollo. But as her distress reveals itself, Orestes decides to declare himself to his sister.

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