Iveta Pole
CLYTEMNESTRA

“All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both”
Nietzsche 

Clytemnestra was as a starting point for my research on the darkest, demonic manifestation of a woman’s nature. She can do both: give life and take it away. She is a violent beauty. A woman, driven to extreme situations, where beneath the conventionally attractive facade something much more primal lives, dark. The death of Clytemnestra’s child sets the stage for the retaliation and extreme anxiety attached to sexuality: subtle, relentless and unforgiving. My interest was to explore issues of trauma, loss and mad- ness set against the wild backdrop of emotional and sexual excess. Also, to investigate situations, where the familiar and known turns into the strange and uncanny; where the pious prayer becomes a witches Sabbath. The subject itself has an exact reference to Lars Von Trier’s movie “Antichrist”. 

My interest also was in questioning historically set traditional social constructions of gender. Male characters primarily represent the brutality of the world: reason, authority and domination, while the women are often the embodiment of sacrifice, suffering and abnegation. The patriarchal power is what she rebels against. It is visceral, a vicious battle of the sexes, in which she holds the mark of the supernatural: Mother Earth, Mother Night. 

Iveta Pole has earned her BA in Stage Acting at the Latvian Academy of Culture. She began her career in the New Riga Theatre, whose artistic director Alvis Hermanis is widely recognized for his theatre and opera productions. Being part of one of the most acclaimed acting troupes in Latvia was professionally challenging, yet enriching. Iveta has also appeared in many national and international movies. Although her previous education and field of activity is rooted specifically in acting, Iveta always has been intrigued by interdisciplinary artistic expressions, which is why she sought to develop herself beyond the boundaries of the theatre and cinema. Her interest has now shifted to exploring the unknown spaces between art disciplines and their set of rules. 

Text: “The Orestea” by AESCHYLUS, Wikipedia, thext from the movie “Anti-Christ” by LARS VON TRIER.
Collaborators: LISSETE SIVARD (costume), MARSHALL STAY (video), LARS BORKER (photo).

Music: Blondie – One Way or Another / George Frideric Handel – Lascia Ch’io Pianga / Artjom Astrov – xx 

Premiere on 1st February 2020 in Von Krahl Theatre (Tallinn)