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Electra
by Sophocles, Marianne Macdonald , J. Michael Walton
All right, all right, I didn't read this, but I did see it performed last night at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and as good as the acting was, I realized scarcely five minutes in that Greek tragedy is not my cup of tea.
I kept wanting to scream at Electra -- "All right already, you're upset, your grieving, you're angry -- get on with it."
If the point of these Greek dramas was that everyone already knew the plot and you were supposed to be dazzled by the oratory, I wasn't. There are only so many ways to say that your mother killed your father and she's a witch, or that your stepfather is a greedy, grasping coward. And then we have our little misdirection when she thinks brother Orestes is dead, but in fact he's alive and ready for revenge. But the whole point of his "faked" death was so that mom and stepdad won't realize he's back and he'll be able to stealthily attack them, and yet there is no real attempt at stealth in the play, just some good old-fashioned gotcha.
I don't know, I'm either too modern or too unsophisticated to get why this is a classic, but meh, I don't.
by Sophocles, Marianne Macdonald , J. Michael Walton
All right, all right, I didn't read this, but I did see it performed last night at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and as good as the acting was, I realized scarcely five minutes in that Greek tragedy is not my cup of tea.
I kept wanting to scream at Electra -- "All right already, you're upset, your grieving, you're angry -- get on with it."
If the point of these Greek dramas was that everyone already knew the plot and you were supposed to be dazzled by the oratory, I wasn't. There are only so many ways to say that your mother killed your father and she's a witch, or that your stepfather is a greedy, grasping coward. And then we have our little misdirection when she thinks brother Orestes is dead, but in fact he's alive and ready for revenge. But the whole point of his "faked" death was so that mom and stepdad won't realize he's back and he'll be able to stealthily attack them, and yet there is no real attempt at stealth in the play, just some good old-fashioned gotcha.
I don't know, I'm either too modern or too unsophisticated to get why this is a classic, but meh, I don't.
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Laurel
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Oct 16, 2011 03:58am
Appreciate your refreshing honesty! No need to seem impressed if the story/book/play is not impressive!
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The translation you saw performed was likely originally by Euripides - I assure you, the play by Sophocles is far superior.You are correct in what you say though, the Euripidean tragedy has a frustratingly stagnant plot, and the messenger who informs on Orestes' action is almost all of the action that occurs onstage. Euripides Electra is supposed to be the controlling force behind a wavering Orestes - but the play falls frustratingly flat for a modern audience.
