Katy Stephens and George Irving will return to the iconic surroundings of Shakespeare’s Globe to lead the cast of The Oresteia this summer.
The duo, who both appeared in 2013’s Julius Caesar at the bankside venue, will take to the stage from 29 August, bringing Rory Mullarkey’s new adaptation of the Aeschylus epic to life until 16 October.
RSC regular Stephens, who also starred in the Globe’s Doctor Scroggy’s War last summer, will play Clytemnestra, while Holby City’s Irving will play the dual role of Agamemnon and Apollo.
They are joined in the cast by Serbian actress and star of HBO’s Big Love, Branka Katić, Joel MacCormack, who can currently be seen in the Globe’s Measure For Measure, Rosie Hilal (The Hard Problem, National Theatre) and Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Made In Dagenham, West End).
Aeschylus’ trilogy, which has been adapted into a one-act play by Mullarkey, documents the bitter cycle of violent retribution that afflicts the House of Atreus as a consequence of Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter.
Talking about bringing his adaptation to one of London’s most iconic stages, the The Wolf From The Door playwright said: “The Oresteia is a huge, epic trilogy about how we live together, so it’s brilliant to be doing it in a huge, epic theatre right in the heart of a European capital city. Its stunning words present human beings in all their grim and beautiful and messy contradictions, so it’s hugely exciting to be staging it somewhere so public, where language feels so alive and where the audience’s relationship with the performers feels so immediate and intimate.”
The Oresteia plays as part of the Globe’s Justice And Mercy season. Audiences heading to the venue this summer can not only enjoy current hits As You Like It and Richard II, but also have productions of The Heresy Of Love, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Richard III and Nell Gwynn to look forward to in the coming months.