Electra: An American Gothic

Electra: An American Gothic, from Slippery Rock Theatre, takes the classic story of the further stretching repercussions of Agamemmnon's fateful return from Ilium, to a murderous wife, and the subsequent horrors dealt out by their vengeful children.

Shifting the play to late 19th century deep south is an interesting move. For example, the changing of Pylades from an elderly teacher to an vociferously angry preacher is a novel twist and overall the adaptation is novel and thought out, if not actually adding any new energy to the play.

It would actually have benefitted the play to have moved itself farther from the original Sophoclean tragedy and as such made more of the setting itself. As it stands this is simply a decent performance of the play with a novel set of costuming.