A production of Euripides' Electra at the University of Utah has some interesting ideas:
Director Hugh Hanson takes this production a step further by adding original Appalachian Mountain music by David Sharp, who also accompanies the actors on dulcimer, bodhran and flute. The chorus sings many of its lines; even Elektra sings and dances. Hanson's adaptation of the text is very colloquial, and he mines much of Euripides' trademark irony for humor.
The result is an interesting hybrid of Balkan and American influences that works most of the time. The chorus is occasionally shrill and unintelligible, and the performances sometimes veer dangerously close to burlesque. But this "Elektra" can turn in a moment and create powerful scenes like the chorus' depiction of Agamemnon's death and Pylades' description of Aegisthus' murder, eloquently enacted by Anthony Gaskins.
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