Electra Final Notes

How were the plays staged and performed to their original audiences?

In Greek times plays would be performed by men only (women were forbidden), they would be shown in an open air theatres named amphitheaters and would be viewed by thousands, back in Greek times everyone went to watch plays. If the play was not enjoyed or actors were not performing to a high enough standard, the groundings would throw rotten food, such as tomatoes or potatoes, luckily this tradition has faded out over the years ad we did not get food thrown at us. Typically all of the actors would wear larger than life masks that could be seen all the way from back of the huge theatres they would be performed in.
This was very different with our performance of Electra as we had the audience on 3 sides instead of all around, so they had a more intimate experience with our production. 


What social, cultural and political themes were contained in the play Electra?


We are exposed to few political themes within Electra, the first one we were educated on was how women were permitted not have any kind of control in any situation if a man was involved. Women in this time weren't allowed to seek revenge for the murder of a family, this duty was looked upon as the role of the eldest male son.  The culture and social themes I have explained in other posts. 
The social themes in Electra are based around family issues and mental heath problems. In Electra, you witness a family which is broken, due to their father's unfortunate demise. Instead of acting rationally and resolving the problems they have between them, Electra refuses to listen to anyone and begs that she be left alone to mourn and be miserable as she has been forbidden the choice to wed and have children, the play exploits extreme brutality - a brother and sister murdering their own mother and stepfather


Are they meaningful for both the original audiences and current theatre goers?


As modern day audiences are educated to understand that period of history, in school as well as media, they can relate to the period Electra was set in. So even if they don't have a knowledgeable source of the themes they can relate to the characters and the story line. Everything in the play is relatable because of the way the emotion is portrayed to the audience.


What did you do to ensure you were fully appreciating the context of the plays? 

Before I started learning my script, I read through all the scenes I was in, payed strict attention when we went to see Electra at The Old Vic, the reasons behind me doing this was so I had a good understanding of the story line, giving me a better understanding of what I was saying because every line was in old english, the thing that stopped people from learning their lines was due to the fact that they need not understanding what they were saying.


What were your intentions for your characters?
The intentions I had set out for my character was that the audience needed to sympathise with Electra and the emotional roller coaster she experiences over mere hours.