A Child of the Theatre VII: Greek Tragedy

My dad [Richard Bell] likes to talk about The Oresteia as a noble failure, as the reason we don’t cut plays, and also point out that my mother costumed him in beads and a mask. I don’t care. It was one of my favorite plays.

The Oresteia (1986)
The Oresteia (1986)

It would be easy to think that it was only a favorite because of the spectacle, and it did have that. The masks the costumes. the 18 foot doors. All of that was cool. But actually one of my favorite books as a kid was D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. I read it over and over so I was very well acquainted with the characters in The Oresteia.

The Oresteia (1986)
The Oresteia (1986)

In fact, once the play closed, I got a copy of the script from my parents, and had my My Little Ponies act out the show.

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