Park Avenue Armory 2022 Season to Include Robert Icke's Hamlet and Oresteia in Rep

Park Avenue Armory, the giant East Side performance and exhibition space, has announced programming for 2022. That includes the return of director Robert Icke with his acclaimed modern interpretations of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Aeschylus's Oresteia, which are scheduled to run in rep May 31 – August 13.

Alex Lawther will portray the Prince of Denmark in Icke's Hamlet, which employs use of cameras and screens to convey the text's obsessive scrutiny. Digital media is similarly employed in Icke's original adaptation of Oresteia, which captures the cycle of violence through a succession of brutal family murders. Lia Williams will reprise her Olivier-nominated performance as Klytemnestra.

Last summer, Icke helmed the short-lived revival of Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People, which called on audiences to vote on the direction of the play.

Earlier in the season, interdisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome will present Assembly, a hybrid exhibit and performance that features Artificial Intelligence and interactive workshops. For seven evenings, the Drill Hall will come alive with the premiere of Newsome's new performance featuring live poetry, music, vocalists, and dancers from across the globe presenting contemporary movements that synthesize vogue fem with the traditional dance from their territories. Assembly runs from February 16 – March 6.

From March 22-30, the Armory will host the North American premiere of Michel van der Aa's new opera Upload, about a daughter (soprano Julia Bullock) who uploads the thoughts and memories of her father (baritone Roderick Williams) in order to have a "virtual resurrection" following his death.

Celebrated director Peter Sellars will return to the Armory to helm Rothko Chapel, Tyshawn Sorey's new musical commission based on the iconic work written by Morton Feldman as a tribute to Mark Rothko and Houston's Rothko Chapel on the occasion of its dedication in 1971. It will run September 27 – October 8.

The season will conclude with Julian Rosefeldt's Euphoria, a new, Armory-commissioned multi-channel film and musical installation exploring the concepts of capital, money, greed, and what Rosefeldt describes as "the destructive potential of unlimited economic growth." It will run November 30, 2022 – January 1, 2023.

Click here for more information about the full season of events at Park Avenue Armory.