ORESTEIA

Choephori is the second play of the Oresteia - the oldest surviving classical tragedy. The play opens as Orestes, Agamemnon's son, returns from exile with his friend Pylades and dedicates a lock of his hair on his father Agamemnon's tomb. His sister Electra and the Chorus of Trojan Women come to offer libations at the tomb, and in a deeply moving scene brother and sister recognize one another. They swear to avenge their father's death, as they have been directed to do by Apollo. Disguised as strangers, Orestes and Pylades enter Agamemnon's palace and Orestes first kills Aegisthus and then his mother Clytemnestra. Threatened by the Furies, he flees to seek Apollo's help. 

National Theatre's production of Eumenides, as directed by Sir Peter Hall. Translation by Tony Harrison. Recorded from Bravo television channel c.1990. Originally screened on Channel 4 in 1983.