Elektra
13 February 2025
Duke Of York’s Theatre
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Elektra, currently playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre until 12 April, is quite a spectacle to behold. Another in a series of Sophocle’s Greek tragedies brought to the modern stage.
After the Trojan war, Elektra’s father Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her new lover Aegisthus, in revenge for Agamemnon sacrificing his other daughter, Iphigenia, to the gods. Elektra rescued her brother Oretes by smuggling him away, out of her mother and stepfather’s reach. Years later, still embittered and enraged by her father’s murder, she dreams of her brother’s return and bloody revenge.
This production retains a version of the classic Greek chorus, a dramatic device utilised heavily in Sophocles’ tragedies, through a group of women speaking and singing in unison and in harmony, explaining situations, the feelings and histories of characters, and advancing the plot through poetry and movement. It is a stark, heavy production, on a mostly bare, dark stage, a large revolving platform in its centre, and a bright white backdrop curving behind it. Elektra utilises a series of microphones that add different distortions and reverb to her voice, viscerally showcasing her anger and helplessness, her hatred of her mother and her own situation.
Brie Larson leads through the production mostly with spoken work poetry, balancing emotions through punctuated verse, rhythmic speech, and sung interludes. The Greek chorus, attired in a modern interpretation of classic ancient Greek draped tunics, is a master stroke, leading the production with perfectly synchronised harmony, haunting and exhilarating at once. The grungy punk rock style performance is dynamic and disruptive, loud and moody, a high concept performance art piece that brings this ancient script forcefully back to life.
From the stark contrast of different styles of costume for the different characters, to the black spray paint liberally used by Elektra, it’s a stunning, gorgeously melodic production that does the play text and its titular character justice.
