GIRL ON AN ALTAR

by Marina Carr

German-language premiere

The Greeks are gathering to go to war against Troy. Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia on the orders of the Oracle of Delphi—presumably a political intrigue disguised as a divine message. He acts to preserve his authority as ruler. Clytemnestra arrives too late to save her daughter. Ten years later, Agamemnon returns victorious from the Trojan War. He brings back the prophetess Cassandra as spoils of war and his new lover. Clytemnestra still lives in the palace with her other children. She has continued to manage the affairs of state while Agamemnon regains power. All the characters are trapped between desire and pain, between power and calculation—in a spiral of masculine power in which women’s fates are merely bargaining chips. 

Marina Carr gives Clytemnestra a voice and asks: Is it possible to forgive the unforgivable?