Divine Justice in the world of "Electra"

We are now in week four of rehearsals and though we have spent many hours perusing the text of the play there are still some elements of the world of Electra that evade us. I think this has to do with the fact that the foundations upon which the world of the play are built, a world that is ruled by Gods that are vengeful, capricious and mean, crumble when we try to slot in characters that are born of our world: modern day Ireland. 

Laura Webb and Oisin Robbins working on the opening scene.
Photo: Natasha Remendou

I had originally intended to talk about how in Catholic Ireland our concept of God is that of a loving, gentle and forgiving being who is sure to let you into heaven as long as you turn up to mass on a Sunday. Or every other Sunday. Ok, just Christmas mass and the occasional wedding. Ok, sometimes you don’t go to Christmas mass but it’s grand ‘cause God is sound like that and he wouldn’t want you worshipping with a headache anyway. But in fact, Atheism amongst Irish people has risen four hundred percent in the past ten years so the idea of setting our moral compass by a higher power is even less likely.  

So what does this mean for our production? Well, the question of murder, justice and revenge for us today means lawyers, court proceedings and jail time. Even if a crime is committed, there is every chance one could get away with it and if you do not believe that your salvation lies with God, then what happens to our concept of justice? To consider these ideas in the world of Electra  brings a whole new layer of depth and meaning to what we are doing. The action that takes place in Electra cannot be taken at face-value and is not as simple as “crime and punishment”. In our story Electra’s decisions may incur the wrath of the very active, very real Gods. For Electra, these are not Gods that she can say a few Hail Mary’s to but who will destroy not only herself but her family and if the mood takes them, her entire bloodline or her whole world.

To put this into context of our rehearsals, our job within this production has been to create a world where all this really happens. For us it means creating spaces, atmospheres and  characters who really inhabit this world and who are really aware of the consequences of their actions. I think for me this has been the most interesting idea to explore while rehearsing the play because it is one that I think has been most removed from us as a society. In our society and culture which has become less restricted and more morally ambiguous, it has been a challenge to imagine ourselves in a world where all of our thoughts and actions can have tangible, dire consequences.

We are still a few weeks from staging our play, and we still meet with challenges every day, but I think when we begin to reflect on some of these ideas, we are reminded why we devote our time to creating this kind of theatre and why ultimately we look forward to the next challenge.

Laura Webb