The Campus Production and Homer Thesis

       1. I thought the campus production of the Oresteia was very good. I especially loved the actress who played Clytemnestra, I thought she did an excellent job of portraying the emotions of the character without betraying the plot too soon. She had just enough fake sincerity in her welcome home and certainly enough anger/madness in her murder scene. Clytemnestra as a ghost was very believable as well, I liked her stage present throughout. Another part I enjoyed was the ever present singer/musician on the stage. It is amazing to me that she performed for the entire play(and that the play is typically even longer for her). It gave the effect that background music does in movies, it pushed emotions into me without me even realizing, such as building suspense within, and encouraging me to feel sad or angry along with the characters.
        The main part that I can really pick out as something that I didn't like is how the chorus was performed. They definitely had good stage presence, and displayed emotions strongly, however their movements were so strange to me. There was a lot of rolling around on the floor, and it just confused and distracted me from what was going on in the storyline. I had a friend come with me as well, and we discussed afterwords how strange we found their movements. I also noticed that Pylades was missing. When I first read the play, I didn't view his role as one of the most important, however I realized while watching just how important he is. It was very different to see Orestes make the decision on his own, or at best with encouragement from the chorus, then when I read of him asking Pylades one last time. It changed the way I saw that scene and Orestes completely.

          2. In Homer's The Odyssey, the lives of the human beings are completely dependent on the decisions and help from the gods. This is clearly shown in Telemachus leaving Ithaca and traveling to Pylos and Sparta and every move he makes while he is there. Odysseus is also very dependent upon the gods, he is trapped by Calypso, he is set free by decision of the gods, Poseidon sets him off course, and Athena and Ino help get him back on track, it's as if he can't move his foot without god intervention.