Critics enjoy Robert Icke's 'fiercely fresh' Oresteia

Michael Coveney, WhatsOnStage

★★★

"The Oresteia is a fountainhead of our drama… and all of that is fully honoured in this sleek, modish, zippy three-and-a-half-hours production by Robert Icke."

"it sets a determinedly casual and domestic tone while obliterating the distinctions between gods, chorus and human royalty"

"The Almeida version, though visually exciting and involving, is more reductive than genuinely outrageous"

Paul Taylor, Independent

★★★★

"Robert Icke's daring and deeply disquieting free adaptation of the Oresteia."

"Icke's version tackles the questions raised by Aeschylus's great trilogy in a fiercely fresh manner that takes nothing for granted"

"Jessica Brown Findlay, of Downton Abbey fame, is an arresting Electra, strickenly musing on the dimensions of her paternal loss"

Michael Billington, Guardian

★★★★

"Praise is due to Robert Icke for his boldness in freely adapting Aeschylus’s great trilogy, for the visual elan of his production and for some fine performances from a 10-strong cast."

"Angus Wright memorably expresses the mental anguish of a divided leader, while Lia Williams is brilliant as a horrified Klytemnestra"

"There is no denying the wit and ingenuity of Icke’s production. Hildegard Bechtler’s design and Natasha Chivers’s lighting yield astonishing, deep-focus images"

Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard

★★★★

"It’s a meaty hybrid of courtroom drama and morally exacting epic."

"Across almost four hours we’re treated to a taut analysis of justice, inheritance and responsibility, meticulously choreographed and punctuated with shocking bursts of violence."

"The writing is tightly focused, sparse, occasionally flecked with notes of lyricism, but mostly tough and serious"

Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph

★★★

"there were several restive moments when I craved a bail-out."

"Clever, yes, but a touch overly so. The pace and tone errs to the portentous – and the loss of the chorus (substituted by a female character we’re led to believe is a doctor) seems perverse"

"There’s ample food for thought – but the evening only truly blazes in its thrilling moments of back-to-basics, heart-on-sleeve acting"

Natasha Tripney, The Stage

★★★★★

"Robert Icke’s reworking of Aeschylus is bold, accessible, resonant and occasionally thrilling in its staging."

"While the production is a long one, running at over three and a half hours (with a number of pauses), it is a thing of fine calibration and the length never feels excessive."

"Icke’s version of the text is modern and open, straightforward yet elegant in its storytelling."

Oresteia runs at Almeida Theatre until 18 July 2015