Resident Belvoir director Anne-Louise Sarks continues her run of interestingly repositioned adaptations, following on from Medea and Nora to bring to life a bloodthirsty Greek myth as a modern-day domestic dramedy. Elektra (Katherine Tonkin) is very open about the fact her mother has killed her father, but in an upbeat, almost farcically energetic manner that imparts mirth more than any kind of horror.
The script Jada Alberts (of the superb Brothers Wreck) and Sarks have produced for Elektra / Orestes is fresh and sharply paced. Klytemnestra (Linda Cropper) can’t get Elektra to reveal the whereabouts of her long-missing brother Orestes (Hunter Page-Lochard), and the tension builds towards an inevitable bloodshed. But interestingly, care is taken to distance the viewer from any realist engagement with the characters. The dialogue maintains its distance, instead opting for an allegorical, archetypal mode.
In the first act the violent climax is conducted offstage, keeping us guessing, not quite gratifying because of its lack of catharsis. Then at the halfway point there is a complete shift, offering a double reading of the events that have taken place in the Elektra half, making for a thrilling second act. We start to see the gory details from the other side of the stage, and the interfamilial adultery and murder is now visible almost to the point of being comic in its gratuity.
The hybridity of form is in itself exciting, caught between dramatic pull, comedy, and meta-theatre; it’s great to have other goals than to make us just hurt or laugh. But through this there seems a lack of clarity about where we’re meant to end up. The climax goes for full-on drama and shock but the continual distancing throughout the play keeps us a thin film away from engaging fully.
Particularly strong performances from Cropper as the stoic, seemingly guiltless mother and Page-Lochard as the noble but hugely conflicted would-be king help to cut through to a closer engagement – particularly the searing question of why regret only takes hold after the deed is done, foresight never offered with a head full of vengeance. What we are left with is a play that can’t avoid feeling uncertain, but is still hugely interesting, very contemporary, and exciting to watch.
3.5/5 stars
Elektra / Orestes is playing at Belvoir St Theatre until Sunday April 26.
