Electra

For about 5 years now I believe, I've been getting subscriptions to the Seattle Shakespeare Company. Throughout the years there have been good shows and there have been bad, but if nothing else Seattle Shakes always continues to be innovative. Sometimes that takes them in the terrible direction of playing Julius Caesar with a mixture of Japanese culture and modern tech, and sometimes it leads to a show like Electra.

At the beginning of the season, it was originally planned for Hamlet to occur at this point in the season. However, soon before the season started it was announced the director had gone through a family tragedy and wouldn't be able to do the show. Instead of keeping Hamlet under the guise of another director, Seattle Shakes decided to branch out into something completely unexpected...Greek tragedy. Needless to say I was a little surprised, and couldn't help but be skeptical. I've never seen a Greek tragedy performed before, but from reading the plays in high school I honestly thought there was no way to pull one off well. So, as a preface I should just say my expectations were a little lower than normal.

Then, I handed my ticket to the usher, stepped into the tiny antechamber right before you hit the stage, and found the lead actress (the incredible Marya Sea Kaminski) with her back to us, sitting in a tiny space watching what appeared to be old family movies playing on a white sheet in front of her. It looked like something taken directly from a modern art gallery, and I knew I was in for a treat.

Walking in on the stage, there is little but fences. Fencing around the columns, torn fencing along the back of the stage, and the frame of a door behind it. It looked almost post-apocalyptic, as well it should have been for the astounding amount of dread and grief in this play. Costumes were equally bleak, containing elements of traditional Greek attire (especially the queen) while at the same time conveying a sense that they could really be in any time period. It was a stylized blank slate, if you will.

For those unfamiliar with the story let me try to narrow it down. Electra's dad, Agamemnon (of The Iliad fame), sacrificed his other daughter to Artemis (goddess of the hunt), who had stilled the winds of the boats racing to Troy because Agamemnon had killed a deer and boasted about it. In exchange she required his daughter. So he did it, The Iliad happens, and then he returns home to be killed by his wife (Clytemnestra) and her lover Aegisthus who had a beef with Agamemnon over stuff their fathers did that was all too complicated for me to remember. In any case, Orestes, Agamemnon's son, was far away when this happened and thus stayed alive. When the play starts it has been 8 years since the murder, Orestes has returned secretly and Electra waits emotionally and physically beaten for his return so he can avenge their father.

The play, through no fault of its own, started out on a bad foot for me as the man playing Orestes, brother to Electra, was the same man who played Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night which I saw a month ago. So for the first few minutes it was simply very hard to take him seriously since he was so damned funny in that role.

Nonetheless, he and two servants entered, gazed around as if they were spellstruck, and then started one of the most brilliant additions to this play: a prayer. But these were no ordinary prayers. Throughout the play the prayers ranged from spreading sand on the ground and speaking to the heavens, to this first instance, where the men prostrated themselves completely, sniffing in the dirt and grit, then rising, pounding their chests rhythmically. These prayers were primal, full of pure and absolute reverence for whichever god they were praying to. Frankly they were some of the most powerful moments in the play, which is impressive considering just how powerful the rest of the play was.

The real reason for this is Marya Sea Kaminski as Electra. She literally had no fear as an actress. The amount of grief, anger, and utter hopelessness that makes up this character would've seemed redundant, excessive, or even boring in the hands of someone else. But Kaminski managed to make each and every moment, each and every word she spoke, so potent and meaningful that throughout the entire 1 hour and 20 minute run time (with no intermission) I was completely captivated. And I for damn sure cried. More than once.

Because this play is filled with GRIEF. Heavy, somber, strangling grief. That, and fiery, wrathful, need-to-claw-someone-to-death anger. It's a heavy, heavy play that *spoiler warning* would've made me want to kill myself if it hadn't ended happily...at least for a tragedy.

The only unfortunate thing about this play was that besides Marya Sea Kaminski, the supporting performances were lackluster. There were several unfortunate Cornish students who either said little or nothing, the queen overreacted often, Electra's sister's (yes there's another one, who I forgot to mention...she serves the queen to avoid being hit basically) acting was just plain weird really, and Orestes failed to connect for me. But God bless Todd Jefferson Moore and John Bogar, both of whom showed up very little (especially John Bogar as the King who *spoiler warning again* shows up for the last 5 minutes and gets killed) and yet stole the show when they were there. Of course Kaminski would steal it right back from them but nonetheless they were excellent.

I came in skeptical, and I came out amazed.

Electra gets a 9.5/10.