01/05/2024
📣 Calling actors for auditions! 📣
Thank you to the many actors who attended our workshop on Saturday, 27th April, we are so excited by the talent that Auckland has to offer! We are now opening up our auditioning to all for our upcoming production of Aeschylus' Agamemnon. 🛁🪓👑
Auditions are being held on the 11th and 12th of May. Please contact us at [email protected] to schedule your audition. We can't wait to see you there!
Character descriptions are below. 👇
‘He takes what he wants… and he pays for it!”
The first play of Aeschylus’ great Oresteia Trilogy, Agamemnon tells of the return of the King of Argos, Agamemnon from a 10-year bloody and brutal war with Troy. Waiting at home for her husband’s return, Queen Clytemnestra has been planning his murder. Her desire: to avenge their daughter, Iphigenia, who was violently sacrificed by Agamemnon to aid the Greeks’ victory over Troy. If Medea is the worst Mother, Clytemnestra is the worst wife, “but for wronged, silenced, and undervalued daughters, she is something of a hero”.
The play contains content of a potentially upsetting nature including su***de, murder, cruelty, violence, and sexual themes.
Note: Some roles may require combat and/or movement skills. These are ideal but not necessary.
The Chorus: All genders, all ages above 20. Wise, loyal, anguished, resentful.
Made up of the elder male citizens of Argos who were too old to fight in the Trojan war, and Clytemnestra’s household staff and ladies in waiting. The Chorus serve as advisors to Queen Clytemnestra during Agamemnon's absence and provide commentary on the action of the play. The often tell stories of the events leading up to the Trojan war, which foreshadow Agamemnon’s fate. The Chorus are present on the stage throughout the play, and each chorus member is a named character. A music sequence involving Agamemnon’s death will require some movement skills.
The Watchmen: Any gender. 20-30 years. Youthful, degenerate, cunning.
This role will be split between two or three actors (who will double as Chorus roles). They have been assigned by Clytemnestra to watch for the signal of Troy's fall from the roof of the palace. Having been up on the roof for a very long time, they finds means to entertain themselves, drinking and dancing. There is a sense of foreboding upon Agamemnon’s journey home. This character is secretly in cahoots with Clytemnestra’s plans to kill her husband, and despite their name, turns a blind eye to her revenge…
Clytemnestra: Female-identifying, 30-50 years. Beautiful, proud, strong, vengeful.
Queen of Argos, wife of Agamemnon. She is the mortal daughter of Tyndareus, and fraternal twin sister of Helen of Sparta/Troy. Ruling Argos in the absence of her husband who has been at war with Troy. For 10 long years, she has been planning the murder of Agamemnon with ruthless resolve and without remorse, as an act of vengeance against her husband for the brutal sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia. Her revenge is tainted by her affair with Aegisthus. If Medea is the worst Mother, Clytemnestra is the worst wife, “but for wronged, silenced, undervalued daughters, she is something of a hero”. Some combat skills are ideal.
The Herald: Any gender. 20-40 years. Patriotic, strong, distressed.
A messenger who is sent ahead of Agamemnon to bring the Chorus and Clytemnestra news of his homecoming. A devoted patriot, he is overjoyed to return home, but vividly recalls of the horrors he experienced during the war.
Cassandra: Female-identifying, 20-30 years. Beautiful, prophetic, anguished, resolute, energetic.
Trojan Princess, daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. Apollo’s prophetic priestess. She is captured by Agamemnon in Troy and brought to Argos to be his slave and mistress. Granted with the gift of prophecy she is cursed to never be believed. She predicts both Agamemnon’s death and her own at the hands of Clytemnestra, and the vengeance that will befall Clytemnestra by her son, Orestes after the play.
Agamemnon: Male-identifying, 35-50 years. Handsome, arrogant, merciless, brutal.
King of Argos, husband of Clytemnestra. A warrior and Commander of the Greek armies during the siege of Troy. Agamemnon is the older brother of Menelaus, whose wife, Helen (twin sister of Clytemnestra) was stolen by the Trojan prince, Paris, inciting the war. Prior to the play, he sacrifices his and Clytemnestra’s daughter, Iphigenia to favour their victory at Troy. Although the play is named after him, he is not the main character of the plot, and unaware of his fate, he appears on stage briefly, before being brutally killed.
Aegisthus: Male-identifying, 20-40 years. Attractive, arrogant, manipulative.
Agamemnon's cousin, and Clytemnestra's lover. Aegisthus’ father and Agamemnon's father were rivals for the throne. Agamemnon's father killed and cooked two of his rival's children (Aegisthus' brothers) and served them to him for dinner. Since that time, Aegisthus has also plotted his chance for revenge against Agamemnon.
