De Roovers // Iphigenia

Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Her father plans to sacrifice her to the goddess Artemis to get a favorable wind so that the Greek fleet can sail to Troy. Then the Trojan War, the mother of all wars, can finally begin. De Portugese writer and theater maker Tiago Rodrigues wrote a radical re-reading of this tragedy. In it, Iphigenia no longer passively undergoes her fate but decides on it herself. Iphigenia thus becomes a powerful, autonomous woman, in the line of Antigone, who gives meaning to her own life instead of submitting to divine arbitrariness or decisions of men who want to wage war so badly. Rodrigues introduces metatheatrical elements in which the story is constantly questioned. He switches between different versions; history becomes memory and dialogue. What do we still know of the original story? Can this story also be told differently? Who is to blame or responsible? How can we resist? Nine players delve into these questions and tell a story that shows that war is never just about politics but primarily about the human price that is paid for it.