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Since our ideas of drama and melodrama originated inancient Greece,it’s no wonder new translations of 2,500-year-old Athenian plays continue toappear. Not all hit the mark as well as others. An Oresteia, a fresh rendering of a trio of thematically relatedtragedies (Agamemnon, Elektra, Orestes), veers from brilliant to “huh?” by vividly rendering thestrangeness of archaic dialogue, only to lapse into contemporary TV-speak. A“weapon of mass destruction” in Euripides? That’s so 2003! As Ann Arbor comparative literature professorAnne Carson writes in her introduction, two of the plays were translatedexpressly for contemporary staging, “to get the plays performed more.” Let’shope it works. And her translations, occasional odd word choicesnotwithstanding, don’t sap the plots of their energy. Orestes, in particular, could still bring audiences to the edge oftheir seats. (David Luhrssen)
