I will not live by rules like those

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Elektra : The Duke Of York's 

In which, following on from last time, I continue my somewhat niche theme of "Oscar winners in Greek tragedies"...

I enjoy experiencing the classic plays (even if just the one visit often turns out to be one visit too many) but this one was picked purely on the star casting alone - Brie Larson (in her West End debut) is a fine, emotionally engaging actress who really holds your attention on screen. Not that you'd guess this from watching any of her appearances as Captain Marvel, but check her out in Room if you've not seen it (I'd also forgotten she's Envy Adams in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, which is also well worth a watch).

Entering the theatre, we're greeted by the obvious setting for a Greek tragedy - a revolving stage featuring a couple of amps, a microphone stand and a really bright light, which is incredibly annoying when it revolves round to blind you. So that get's pretty tiresome pretty quickly, but there's no sign of anything else happening at all, except for one person sitting on the steps in overalls...

...until Brie appears on stage (which continues to revolve) singing into a microphone - at which point a rear curtain rises to reveal a chorus of six singers, who provide some impressive close harmonies. I don't know much about the original play, but I was already getting a slight suspicion that this wasn't going to be a classically faithful rendition. Elektra is portrayed as riot grrl (complete with buzz cut and Bikini Kill tee) with, I think it's fair to say, anger issues - which possibly stem from her mother Clytemnestra having killed her father Agamemnon to marry his cousin Aegisthus, which meant that Elektra had to send her much-loved brother Orestes away for his own safety. And to think that Gen Z snowflakes get annoyed by the price of avocados!

Much of the action centres around Elektra and the singers who operate in a call and response style - most of Elektra's input is plainly spoken, but she does sing from time to time and she always sings the word "no" (which appears a lot). She also swaps microphones or adds effects at times, which could come across as a bit gimmicky but I think they just about get away with it. There's an awful lot of stuff for Brie to remember both in terms of words and actions (the stage spends a lot of time revolving, often with seven or eight people on it which requires careful navigation) and she does it all well.

From time to time (but less than you might expect), she is joined by various members of her family. Clytemnestra is played by Stockard Channing (who is 80 now) who is amusingly haughty and unrepentant of her actions ("Of course I killed him - you do remember he sacrificed your sister to the gods, right?) but Elektra is having none of that because there are some serious mother-daughter issue at play here. Chrysothemis (Elektra's sister - amusingly unconcerned about the whole "parents killing each other" thing) is played by Marième Diouf who works well with Brie, but I did struggle to understand her accent at times. It's not helped in one bizarre scene by the music playing so loud you can't hear what either of them are saying.

Orestes is played by Patrick Vaill, who probably has the most to do out of all supporting characters and he does it well, including one scene which he has to deliver at breakneck speed without allowing any pauses for breath - it's obviously intentional but I have absolutely no idea why. And finally, Aegisthus is played by Greg Hicks, who gets to sit at the back doing absolutely nothing for about an hour before he's brought on stage (which at this point is almost completely shrouded in dry ice, whilst still rotating)  to deliver a few lines before he (spoiler alert) gets killed.

Having named all of the supporting parts, none of them get anything like as much to do as the chorus, so I feel I should also name Hannah Bristow, Wallis Currie-Wood, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson, Nardia Ruth, Rebecca Thorn and Adeola Yemitan because they all do a fantastic job with some VERY impressive harmonies - and that's before you even consider all the rotating stage shenanigans they have to contend with. 

There's a lot about this production which is certainly unconventional and I struggle to imagine Sophocles had them in mind when he was penning the original text back around 410 BC. The critical reviews have been a bit mixed, with quite a few describing it as "messy" and I'd struggle to argue with that - but for me it's messy in a good way and it certainly doesn't suffer from a lack of ambition. I (and certainly the rest of the audience around me) found it strangely compelling - it was also reasonably easy to follow and surprisingly funny at times, so if you fancy something a bit different with a strong central performance then I'd certainly recommend you consider this (and there are still some tickets left).

Oedipus - With added dancing!