Electra

by Tom McGrath

A modern version of the Euripedes play, Electra. A cast of 8, 5 male and 3 female plus chorus, guards and the voice of Agamemnon. With introduction by author.

55 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really spare version of Electra, but one that does a lot to directly complicate the ethics of the Hellenic story. In the introduction to this version, McGrath says that he was concerned about the apparent acceptance from all involved that Electra would seek revenge--he couldn't resolve to accept that this was an okay ethical position. Instead, he says, he wanted the guiding principle of this adaptation to be that violence is cyclical and one violent act leads to another (as of course it does in the Electra story, after which Orestes is pursued by the vengeful Furies). The main thing that strikes me about McGrath's version of this play is that Electra is more disturbing in this version that the way I read her in the Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides versions of the play. McGrath's Electra is more akin to Antigone with her fanatical devotion to death, violence, and revenge as ethical goods--to the point where Electra even rejects the hope that Orestes is alive, despite her sister Chrysothemis' assertion that he still lives, so that she can more fully embrace despair and sink further into dejection. It strikes me more in this version how selfish and limited Electra's worldview is, encompassing nothing but the hope that her brother will return and kill her mother and Aegisthus. While Clytemnestra is not great, McGrath makes it hard--rightly, I feel--to accept Electra's as an admirable position.