A circular orchestra defined by wooden planking lies only a short distance from the first rows of the cavea, with only a shallow trench for lighting and sound equipment separating performers from spectators. Performances begin around 6 p.m., while evening sunlight illuminates the performance area. Darkness generally arrives toward the denouement, with electric light gradually supplementing the fading daylight. The stone tiers, many cracked and eroded after only 25 centuries of use and disuse, make cushions a necessity rather than a luxury and they can be rented at the site or brought in by spectators. The site remains visitable during morning and afternoon hours, but the modern scenographic areas of course conceal the remains of Greek and Roman stage buildings and orchestras.
More recent productions display the increasingly heavy hand of concept-minded directors.
Concept productions, those in which the presence of the director- scenographer dominates or even overwhelms that of the playwright, frequently occur in response to ancient or classic scripts. The 1994 season at Siracusa, Sicilia, provided a sampler of such productions that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime to the healthily ludicrous. Agamemnon provided the ridiculous end of this spectrum. Agamemnon's palace became a sloping, metallic structure with a massive entranceway that led underground, perhaps to the bomb shelter. Agamemnon and Cassandra entered seated on massive rattan-covered sedan chairs decked with fronds which raised the specter of Dorothy Lamour or Faye Wray.