Review: ELECTRA/PERSONA at National Theatre, Lyttelton

Written by Benedict Andrews and based on the works of Sophocles and Ingmar Bergman, the first section feels terribly au courant given Christopher Nolan’s recent cinematic Odyssey. The ancient text is brushed-off and scuffed-up ready for a modern ear, with many a present-day conflict reference thrown-in, to elevate the Trojan War into a decade-long drone-fest. [That’s enough of the Homeric hyphenated epitheta].

Each evening at the start of the performance, Ms Blanchett and her co-star Nina Hoss, come to the front of the playing area and toss a coin. The victor gets to decide which parts they play — either Electra and Elisabeth, or Clytemnestra and Alma. On press night CB called heads, promptly won the toss and put her co-star in to bat as Electra. Soon, the German actress was ascending the stack of 20 steep wooden steps, stopping momentarily to lift the hammer which had been gleaming in a beam of light since we first entered. Thereafter, Ms Hoss who previously worked with Blanchett on the astounding movie Tár (possibly now most notable for the Academy NOT awarding the Aussie actress a deserved third Oscar for her mesmerising performance), immerses herself as the Greek princess with an obsessive hatred for her mother. Blanchett as her mother Clytemnestra, murdered her victorious returning husband Agamemnon for his earlier sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia and feels her actions justified.

In a modern twist Clytemnestra is bored by her daughter’s insistence on wearing her disapproval and contempt as a badge of honour. Fortunately the drama is compelling, heartbreaking and demonstrates precisely why the situation has played on audience’s minds for well over 2400 years. As the third and youngest daughter Chrysothemis, Ella Lily Hyland acts as the stooge and foil to much of what transpires between the two women. She radiates a gentle naivety as the more toxic and weary tempers flail and rage about her.

After a small onstage period of freneticism during which the cast members change costumes and reapply their make-up while sitting on the stairs, the stage hands mop, clean and reposition props around them, (including a tantalising blob of blood). Thence we descend into a reworking of Bergman’s bizarre 1966 movie Persona. I confess I have a peculiar love/hate relationship with Bergman adaptations having previously awarded my first ever 1 star scathing review to a quite memorably dreadful stage production of Persona at the Riverside Studios in 2020.

Here, Benedict Andrews wearing his director’s hat, has drilled and honed the actors into deploying tripod-mounted and hand-held, hi-definition cameras during the one-sided conversations to better see facial responses. Alma, the nurse who has been assigned to care for actress Elisabeth serves as companion while the latter convalesces after an onstage incident and prolonged, self-enforced refusal to speak. As someone who has spent decades around actors, the notion has always struck me as fancifully absurd. There exists a gentle intimacy between the women, which renders a single moment of betrayal, so horribly poignant. Frequently, lines spoken in Electra find parallel moments in Persona and the pairings point to an astute mind albeit one which resolutely denies us the traditional sob elements.

Ultimately then, a stylish piece which is well-acted, cleverly crafted and slickly presented. But don’t take children or easily bored individuals (like the glamorous airhead who sat fidgeting in the seat in front of me). They’ll only annoy those patrons determined to apply their own focus and attention.

The production runs 2 hours 10 minutes without formal interval and continues until 10th October.

Electra/Persona Tickets