Aeschylus, Homer, and Greek Ancestors in the Modern Sicilian Theatre

What is it about?

Since ancient times, Sicily has been playing a key role in the history of the Mediterranean. The ‘Western Greece’—a ‘Promised Land’ for immigrants of all times—gave birth to many personalities, such as Empedocles and Gorgias, and welcomed notable guests from abroad. Among them, Aeschylus has a special place in Sicilian history: he moved here from Athens, his hometown, and he left his traces especially in the Greek theatre of Syracuse (where a festival of classical performances has been taking place since 1914), and in Gibellina: the latter is an old town in the Belice Valley, in Western Sicily, destroyed by an earthquake in January 1968, and rebuilt in the early eighties as New Gibellina by the mayor Ludovico Corrao who called artists from Italy and abroad to give their contribution. Upon his invitation, the Sicilian playwright and artist Emilio Isgrò wrote a Sicilian trilogy inspired by Aeschylus’ Oresteia: ever since, the Orestiadi festival played a key role in Sicilian history, in particular as part of the celebration of the foundation (or rebirth) of a community. Other artists have been increasingly involved in local and global events. Most of them, inspired by Greek models, have worked in the past decades on recurrent themes, although each in their own way. They have combined ancient heritage with their own vision, by relying on local cultural patterns, and converting their dialect into a universal language, either in their adaptations of Greek texts, such as Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Suppliant Women, or Homer’s Odyssey, or in their own plays

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Photo by Francesco Labita on Unsplash

Photo by Francesco Labita on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Emilio Isgrò took Aeschylus as an ideal model, although implicit: since his first work as a playwright, Gibella del Martirio (a funeral song for the ghost town of Gibellina), and in the second one, "San Rocco legge la lista dei miracoli e degli orrori" which was performed three times in the street of Gibellina by the people of the old town (1982, 1983, 1984). From 1983 to 1985 Isgrò completed a monumental trilogy, mostly in the Sicilian language, freely inspired by Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In those years Aeschylus’ trilogy saw a great revival worldwide. Among many playwrights who engaged with the Oresteia, however, Isgrò may be distinguished for his Sicilian language, and culture, based on Greek roots, for his profound sensibility, for his education in theatre, poetry, and literacy, which deeply influenced his musical verses (rich in rhymes, sounds, and rhythmic effects).

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