Orestes: Blood and Light

An explosive retelling of the most savage and powerful of ancient myths - the story of avenging siblings, Electra and Orestes - premiered by Shared Experience Theatre Company.

As children, Orestes and his sister, Electra, were sent far away, banished by their own mother. Years later, the city must vote to determine their future, as they stand trial for her murder. Some say the killing should be met with banishment and that the cycle of revenge must be stopped. Others want blood...

Exploring the tragedy of human relationships set against the backdrop of war, Helen Edmundson's play Orestes: Blood and Light is based on Euripides' Electra.

The play was first staged by Shared Experience at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, in September 2006, before touring.

Helen Edmundson's first play, Flying, was presented at the National Theatre Studio in 1990. In 1992, she adapted Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for Shared Experience, for whom she also adapted The Mill on the Floss in 1994. Both won awards – the TMA and the Time Out Awards respectively – and both productions were twice revived and extensively toured. Shared Experience also staged her original adaptation of War and Peace at the National Theatre in 1996, and toured her adaptations of Mary Webb's Gone to Earth in 2004, Euripides' Orestes in 2006, the new two-part version of War and Peace in 2008, and the original play Mary Shelley in 2012. Her original play The Clearing was first staged at the Bush Theatre in 1993, winning the John Whiting and Time Out Awards, Mother Teresa is Dead was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2002 and The Heresy of Love was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre in 2012. Her adaptation of Jamila Gavin's Coram Boy premiered at the National Theatre to critical acclaim in 2005, receiving a Time Out Award. It was subsequently revived in 2006, and produced on Broadway in 2007. She adapted Calderón’s Life is a Dream for the Donmar Warehouse in 2009, and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons for the Bristol Old Vic in 2010, which subsequently transferred to the West End before embarking on a national tour in 2012. Her adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin was premiered by the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 2014, and was subsequently produced on Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2015. Her original play, Queen Anne, was commissioned and premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2015, and her adaptation of Andrea Levy's Small Island was staged by the National Theatre in 2019, revived in 2022. She was awarded the 2015 Windham Campbell Prize for Drama. Euripides (c. 480-406 BC) was, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens.