*4.5*

I was able to see this play in all its Rudall translation glory at the Getty Villa last night, and it was one of the most intriguing stories I'd seen in a long time.

While not technically reading, I'm glad I saw this performed. I think it gave it such life and I was much more invested than I think I would have been just reading it. In school we're often taught how the Greeks performed and had a whole culture of popular plays, and it didn't hit me until I was watching it that I could totally see it. The play was written beautifully, it was intriguing, it was dramatic and funny and sad all at the same time. I actually cried at the end– this was entertainment.

On the surface Iphigenia in Aulis is a side story of the Trojan War, focusing on individuals touched by the drama of Helen's capture. Deeper than that is a domestic embitterment of Iphigenia's parents, and even deeper still is a battle of either living for yourself or for your collective community– the classic conundrum of using your heart or your mind. The options are weighed equally, both scrutinized and debated and felt, and yet all is for null. By the end, fate holds the final decision.

The themes were poignant and heavy, and I think coming from an American perspective of individuality I appreciated them for making me think critically. The pains of each person are totally believable and make you torn for who to root for, or if you can even root for anyone with the injustices and reality they live in. In the end, it was beautifully simple and yet incredibly thought-provoking.

The only thing that made this less than 5 stars was that the monologues could get a bit tedious at times. Achilles' monologue after talking to Clytemnestra for the first time just kept repeating everything we already had just seen. But beyond that, I loved it and would see again in a heartbeat. It's making me want to pick up the rest of his plays and all the other dead Greek dudes, and that's saying something. ( )

The Publisher Says: High King Agamemnon faces the most crushing dilemma of his life. Kill his beloved eldest daughter? Or forfeit victory in the Trojan War? A father’s secret plot clashes with a girl’s romantic dreams in this chilling classic play from Ancient Greece.

The most powerful dramatic script by EURIPIDES springs to life anew in a fresh adaptation by writer EDWARD EINHORN (Paradox in Oz, Fractions in Disguise, The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein) with AGE OF BRONZE art by Eisner Award-winning ERIC SHANOWER (AGE OF BRONZE, Oz Graphic Novels, Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland).

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: A graphic-novel adaptation of the basic story of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

dramatis personae from age-of-bronze.com

I don't really know what else to say; if you haven't read those stories, or haven't seen the innumerable retellings in such media as exist then you've got one helluva learning curve ahead. This graphic version will, I suppose, do nicely to get you into the story. The idea that Agamemnon was required to kill his own child for a war against his sister-in-law's little bit on the side. It's a stupid reason to go to war, and the cost of it was staggering.

The art is, as you'd expect from Eric Shanower, convincing and technically accomplished. The story is adapted from Euripides by playwright Edward Einhorn. His success or failure is a matter of personal taste; I liked it fine.

Familiar or unfamiliar as you may be with the source material, it's a fantastic and worthy project, executed well, and solidly entertaining. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this play, but the version I saw in London was kind of terrible.

Near the end of Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia has offered herself as a sacrificial victim:
"I have decided that I must die. And I shall die gloriously."(p 58) At this point the Chorus echoes her praises, but one wonders at the events that have led to this point and the event that will come to follow this moment as the ending turns the drama on its head.

The story told in this drama by Euripides is one that Athenians knew well. It was told by Aeschylus in his drama Agamemnon, the first play in the trilogy known as The Oresteia. Thus it would have had a tremendous impact on this audience and that impact has continued to this day. In Aeschylus's play the Chorus, made up of the old men of Argos, enters and tells the story of how the Trojan Prince Paris stole Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, leading to ten years of war between Greece and Troy. Then the Chorus recalls how Clytemnestra's husband Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother) sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia at Aulis to the god Artemis to obtain a favorable wind for the Greek fleet.

The play raises serious questions about the value of an individual life, and under what circumstances that life can be taken. Is the play's central event, the sacrifice of Iphigenia, a pointless waste, or a tragic necessity? Do the players, her father Agamemnon, Achilles, and Iphigenia herself, have a choice or is their fate determined by the gods (Artemis in particular)? Is the war that will be fought as a result of her sacrifice a just cause, or a petty quarrel over individuals and the fate of the beautiful Helen? Is her decision to offer herself an act of heroic patriotism? Acceptance of the inevitable or possibly a sign of madness? These questions and more linger in one's mind during and after reading this powerful drama.

In Euripides play Iphigenia invokes values important to the Greeks (p 58-9); including obedience to the gods, "Artemis has determined to take this my body--can I, a mere mortal, thwart a goddess's will?"; that the community is more important than the individual, the Greeks must prevail over the barbarians, that men are more valuable than women, and that death in defense of these values is glorious and brings everlasting fame, "Sacrifice me and destroy Troy. That will be my epitaph for eternity. That will be my glory,". That the glory that she seeks is one determined by men is an open question. The play also raises questions about the importance of the family as her mother, Clytemnestra and supposed suitor, Achilles, take on important roles.

The translation of this play by Nicholas Rudall is both lucid and poetic in an attempt to capture some of the music that Euripides was famous for. His tragic irony shines through the dialogue. The questions raised in this play are universal in the sense that we still are concerned over the nature of heroism and fidelity to one's community. Euripides won a prize for this drama even though he was no longer present in Athens and had died the previous year. I would recommend this to all who are interested in these questions and their presentation in one of the singular dramas of the Western tradition.n. ( )

Iphigenia em Áulis é incrivelmente triste. Agamemnon pretende sacrificar a filha pelo orgulho de seu exército, Aquiles quer salvá-la apenas porque seu nome foi utilizado, e ela mesa decide se entregar ao sacrifício para morrer com dignidade, ao invés de ser arrastada para o altar.
Os eventos desse livro prenunciam toda a Orestéia, e atingem uma força poética qe só pode ser descrita como pungente. ( )