Unfortunately Klytemnestra’s trial is used only as a framework here, rather than being fully integrated into the play itself. So whilst a lot of the separate elements are strong – the trial testimonies, the African chorus, the chemistry and clashes between mother and child – they never quite come together, leaving us with an ambitious but confused production.

We open with a clash typical of this production – the chorus enters from the audience, the implication being they are part of us. But while their African singing is beautiful and emotional, it is also foreign and strange; a distance is established between the audience and the chorus, which becomes hard to forget. Nevertheless, the trial starts strongly and draws the audience in with foreboding statements; ‘If the guilty do not pay blood for blood, then we are nothing but a history without a future.’ It is a powerful opening and is also this production at its best; with the plot hinted at and the anguish still under wraps, the company creates a tangible anticipation of the carnage to come.

It is once we move from trial to tragedy that the cracks begin to show and the energy drops. The contemporary performance style simply can’t hold up under the strain of Aeschylus’ tragedy – so whilst Klytemnestra’s first wail flashes through the audience, its impact is seriously diminished as the death toll increases. Dorothy Ann Gould pours heart, body and soul into her performance as Klytemnestra, but can’t hope to sustain such a high-octane delivery. After a while, her character becomes grating – relentless, melodramatic and blunt. Fault lies not with Gould but the adaptor (director Yael Farber), who lets Klytemnestra’s role spiral into parody until she is nothing more than a white-trash whore at the play’s close. Sprawled on a chair with wine in one hand and cigarette in another, Klytemnestra feels at odds with the play she is in – a contemporary character trapped in another time.

Orestes and Elekra fit better into this interpretation, largely due to their connection with the chorus. Together they feel part of something bigger and their struggle begins to match the stature of this Greek tragedy. The actors handle their roles skilfully, with Sandile Matshenie’s Orestes taking on almost mythical proportions. Matshenie has incredible stage presence and delivers a graceful, composed and enveloping performance. Jabuilile Tshabalala has a harder time with Elektra but this is largely down to the text, which allows Elektra’s lust for revenge to limit her character’s depth and appeal. Still, the two actors work subtly and comfortably together and it is their scenes that bring the play to life.

The production closes with Klytemnestra’s trial, which has by now lost much of its initial appeal. The spell has been broken and Klytemnestra’s despair and Elektra’s elation are hard to engage with. Most frustrating is the play’s closing, in which Aeschylus’ complex and open ending is replaced with an uncompromising, political resolution. This tight conclusion can’t work in a play as circular and timeless as the Oresteia and it consequently feels a little forced. Despite this, there are painful moments that will be hard to forget, marking out Farber Foundry as a principled and fluent company as one to watch for in the future.

Run over.