Anna Weiler as Electra.
I saw Electra, by Jeremy Menekseoglu, at Dream Theatre tonight.
Electra, a woman of powerful determination, and noble heritage, thirsts for revenge. Against her mother. For killing her father. She lives in a world of the sword and the ax, a world in which women cannot engage directly in mortal combat. A woman must enlist a fighting man as a champion, to do her bloody work.
Into her life walks Orestes, her long-lost brother. The recognition scene is clever, touching, restrained. She has found her champion.
This version of Electra explores the ways in which praise can go to your head, the ways women can manipulate men into doing their bidding, and the bitter taste of family revenge.
It's a bustling, busy play, with an honest-to-gods 5-woman chorus plus 6 regular (or perhaps irregular) characters. Anna Weiler, as Electra, is the center of the play, around whom the whirlwind swirls. She is a no-nonsense, hard-edged, get-things-done kind of woman, who is tired of being exiled to a swamp, and who jumps at her chance to really leave a mark in the world. Weiler brings fearsome, unyielding intensity to the role.
Menekseoglu plays Orestes, her lovable, malleable, but still deadly brother. He is genuinely likeable, but very scary when the time comes.
Bil Gaines plays Pamphilos, Electra's much-put-upon husband, who loves her, and desires her, but who is not allowed to touch her or see her bare. Gaines brings a down-to-earth sense of humor to his role as he tries to get along with the impossible woman he loves.
Rachel Martindale is regal as Electra's mother, flashing smoothly through pride, supplication, anger and fear. A master manipulator, she tells Electra some truths which Electra does not want to hear.
Giau Truong is Electra's mother's new husband, the usurper king. Giau deftly shows us his bluster, and the cowardice inside the bluster.
Danielle Gennaoui turns in a wonderfully annoying performance as a precious princess, daughter of Electra's mother with the new usurper husband. Her worshipful attitude toward her mother is played exquisitely.
Finally, there is the chorus, played by Alicia Reese, Molly Gray, Theresa Neef, Alison Faraj, and Annelise Lawson. They were hypnotically insane, less than human, but divinely inspired, and they even sang a song in harmony - in praise of motherhood, of all things.
The play moves along briskly, taut with suspense, with brief lyrical breaks, tender moments, and scary mayhem. I liked it. A lot. It's one of those plays that gives you plenty to think about.
At the heart of the Greek tragedies is troubled family life,
in complicated clans, replete with bloody strife,
as strong willed men and women defy all legal censure
and go to places most of us would never dare to venture.
Electra, a woman of powerful determination, and noble heritage, thirsts for revenge. Against her mother. For killing her father. She lives in a world of the sword and the ax, a world in which women cannot engage directly in mortal combat. A woman must enlist a fighting man as a champion, to do her bloody work.
Into her life walks Orestes, her long-lost brother. The recognition scene is clever, touching, restrained. She has found her champion.
This version of Electra explores the ways in which praise can go to your head, the ways women can manipulate men into doing their bidding, and the bitter taste of family revenge.
It's a bustling, busy play, with an honest-to-gods 5-woman chorus plus 6 regular (or perhaps irregular) characters. Anna Weiler, as Electra, is the center of the play, around whom the whirlwind swirls. She is a no-nonsense, hard-edged, get-things-done kind of woman, who is tired of being exiled to a swamp, and who jumps at her chance to really leave a mark in the world. Weiler brings fearsome, unyielding intensity to the role.
Menekseoglu plays Orestes, her lovable, malleable, but still deadly brother. He is genuinely likeable, but very scary when the time comes.
Bil Gaines plays Pamphilos, Electra's much-put-upon husband, who loves her, and desires her, but who is not allowed to touch her or see her bare. Gaines brings a down-to-earth sense of humor to his role as he tries to get along with the impossible woman he loves.
Rachel Martindale is regal as Electra's mother, flashing smoothly through pride, supplication, anger and fear. A master manipulator, she tells Electra some truths which Electra does not want to hear.
Giau Truong is Electra's mother's new husband, the usurper king. Giau deftly shows us his bluster, and the cowardice inside the bluster.
Danielle Gennaoui turns in a wonderfully annoying performance as a precious princess, daughter of Electra's mother with the new usurper husband. Her worshipful attitude toward her mother is played exquisitely.
Finally, there is the chorus, played by Alicia Reese, Molly Gray, Theresa Neef, Alison Faraj, and Annelise Lawson. They were hypnotically insane, less than human, but divinely inspired, and they even sang a song in harmony - in praise of motherhood, of all things.
The play moves along briskly, taut with suspense, with brief lyrical breaks, tender moments, and scary mayhem. I liked it. A lot. It's one of those plays that gives you plenty to think about.
At the heart of the Greek tragedies is troubled family life,
in complicated clans, replete with bloody strife,
as strong willed men and women defy all legal censure
and go to places most of us would never dare to venture.
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