Review: Electra – Latitude Festival

ByGlen Pearce July 21, 2011

There’s something chilling about sitting alfresco in the Suffolk sunshine on a Sunday morning, being snowed on by (fake snow) and watching a 2000 year old play about family murder and matricide.

Sophocles’ Electra has been given a gripping adaptation by Nick Payne and brought to Latitude by the Gate Theatre. In a festival environment there is often a transient audience as festival goers dip in and out of performances. It’s testament to the power of this tragic masterpiece that, despite the chill and the damp in the air, a large audience sat on the ground gripped throughout.

Unable to forgive her mother for the murder of her father, Electra is a woman torn apart by grief and the desire for revenge. Her family are unable to comprehend her grief and this only fuels her desire for revenge.

On stage throughout, Cath Whitefield delivers a mesmerising performance as Electra, hauntingly chilling in her grief but tempered with inner steel. This is a woman that is utterly believable as she sets out on her bloody path. There’s also strong performances from Madeleine Potter (Clytemnestra), Alex Prices (Orestes) and Natasha Broomfield as Chrysothemis.

Making great use of the forest setting, Holly Waddington’s tile clad stage and an evocative score by Tom Mills, Carrie Cracknell’s production makes this classic Greek text powerfully relevant.

This fresh, contemporary adaptation never devalues the original drama but makes for an utterly gripping, immensely powerful and moving production.

Photo: Cath Whitefield as Electra. Picture by Simon Kane

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