Electra

John Ward, John Ward

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781786824608
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Théâtre britannique

DumbWise reinvent the murderous Greek myth of power and prophecy as a lyrical modern epic with a live punk-rock score. A Queen masterminds the murder of her husband and takes the throne with her new lover. Her daughter, Electra, grows up in the grip of a cruel regime, swearing revenge. Her son Orestes, exiled as a boy and raised in the arms of the rebels, waits to embark on a holy mission to reclaim his country. Two decades later a twist of fate brings brother and sister together; united by hate but divided by faith. With the country on the brink of civil war, the most powerful family in the Kingdom are torn apart from the inside as their dark past once again becomes the present. The revolution will be televised, but are The Gods watching?

EXCLUSIVE: CLYTEMNESTRA – HER STORY IN HER OWN WORDS. PART 1.

The QUEEN sits in a chair. She is in a TV studio. A broadcast camera DCS. The HOST and other bodies talk quietly upstage. A constant feedback can be heard. The QUEEN stares into space. The QUEEN’S ADVISER comes downstage and checks the QUEEN’s make-up and appearance. The QUEEN doesn’t flinch, doesn’t break her focus. The feedback intensifies. The HOST comes downstage and takes her seat, saying something briefly to the QUEEN who stays still, unmoving. The HOST readies herself. We hear/see a producer upstage counting down from five. The feedback swells and cuts.

HOST: Hello

This evening we welcome Queen Clytemnestra

A woman who needs no introduction to Greece

Having served as First Lady in not one but two administrations

In the wake of a chilling unrest

And amidst very personal attacks on her character

Her notorious transition to the new government

And her infamous remarriage

She has agreed to talk exclusively to us

To tell her side of the story

Uncensored and unprompted

This is Queen Clytemnestra as you have never seen her before

Good evening your Majesty

And thank you for coming on the show

QUEEN: A pleasure

Thank you for having me

HOST: Why don’t you take us back to the very start

You’re serving your first administration

with your then husband, Agamemnon

QUEEN: Yes

HOST: Give us a sense

of what it felt like

to be serving the nation

in the highest office?

QUEEN: Starting off easy then?

The HOST laughs falsely.

It was a dream come true

For both of us

HOST: But it was an administration

Plagued by war wasn’t it?

QUEEN: That’s right

The honeymoon didn’t last long

And we all paid the price

For defending our way of life

Against the enemy

None more so than Agamemnon

Who spent years away in Troy

HOST: Yes

Agamemnon’s exploits

During the war

Are world famous

QUEEN: He was a very brave man

And a great, great soldier

HOST: Brave enough to take your daughter with him?

Pause. A stoney silence.

Iphigenia?

QUEEN: We agreed not to cover that topic

HOST: The disappearance of your daughter?

We did

I just thought, perhaps,

This might be an invaluable opportunity

To discuss Agamemnon’s actions –

The turning tides of the war?

Silence.

For you then

Being at home, alone

How was it for you?

QUEEN: It wasn’t easy, certainly

Any wife will tell you

Of the sleepless nights

The uncertainty

So it was with me

But I won’t make a case

For my troubles

At a ...