ry* Elegant Thai Cuisine
r “12 years of experience serving Eugene”
Voted. The Best Asian Restaurant of its Kind in Eugene
lAfe’ve moved!
We’re now located at
1769 Franklin Blvd.
Mai Thai
Exotic Drinks
full service bar
Mon-Thu: 1 lam-9 pm Frl; 11 am-10pm Sat; noon-10pm Sun: Moon-9pm
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND...Spend it in Las Vegas!
DAVE
MATTHEWS
BAND
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
W 1 1 >KS I* « K A, 1 >
macygray
SATURDAY, MAY 26
SUNDAY, MAY 27
SAM BOYD STADIUM
LAS VEGAS
Tickets available at all outlets.
Charge by phone. (888) 464-2468
Tickets, subject to convenience/handling tee. Six ticket limit per person.
All dates, acts, and'ticket prices are subject to change without notice.'
www.davematthewsband.com
get tickets at sfx.com
R. Ashley Smith Emerald
During a recent rehearsal of ‘Electra,’ Jocelyn Fultz, who plays Electra, is held up by
(from left) Nicole Barrett, Sarah Linder and Lindy Anderson.
Futuristic direction
spins Greek drama
■‘Electra,’ a classic Greek
family tragedy, is given
a bold new interpretation
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
This is your Greek tragedy. This is
your Greek tragedy in a post-apoca
lyptic world. Any questions? Hope so.
Don LaPlant has wanted to direct
the classic Greek tragedy “Electra”
since he was a sophomore undergrad
uate 10 years ago. This year, he got his
chance, and his vision opens Friday
on the Robinson Theatre stage.
The story of Electra is complex,
but the simple summary is that
Electra’s father, the king of Myce
nae, sacrifices Electra’s sister to ap
pease the gods and then goes off to
war. In his absence his wife,
Clytemnestra, takes a lover, and the
two assassinate the king on his re
turn. Electra then spends the rest of
her life waiting to take revenge on
her mother for her murderous act.
LaPlant took the script by Sopho
cles and placed it in a ruined world to
visually reinforce the themes he saw.
“I found thematic similarities be
tween the Greek text and some
movies that were about living in a
world that’s falling apart,” LaPlant
said. “The heroes in those movies
do very violent things, and yet they
are still heroes. This is an idea that I
am trying to work with. ”
A large part ot the visual inspira
tion came from movies, including
“Mad Max,” “The Crow” and “Wa
terworld” — “even though it was a
bad movie,” he said.
The influence of these films is easi
ly seen in the costumes. The actors
wear tom garments with occasional
pieces of armor. LaPlant has been
working with the costume depart
ment both formally and not since ear
ly last summer. The result was a non
traditional development process
where the department made rehearsal
costumes for the actors to use before
the final outfits were made.
The costumes needed to be ex
tremely mobile to allow the actors
full range of movement. In addition
to being post-apocalyptic, LaPlant’s
vision for the show included dance
and other means of physical expres
sion, such as martial arts or even
cheerleading moves.
“The classic Greek chorus has al
ways been associated with doing
dance, so the idea of movement isn’t
foreign from the play,” LaPlant said.
“But the characters are such huge,
towering figures that it seemed wrong
to have them walk around normally. ”
Senior Brian Henderson, who
plays Electra’s brother, Orestes, said
that the action in the show occurs
when communication between
characters breaks down.
“In a musical, the emotions get so
high you sing. In our show, emo
tions get so high you dance,” Hen
derson said.
To give the movement abeat, senior
Jon Christianson composed most of
the music for the show in an industri
al/heavy metal style. He used lots of
heavy percussion and found sounds
ranging from cast members screaming
to the banging of metal objects.
As if the visual and audio changes
weren’t enough to irk purists of clas
sic Greek theater, LaPlant made some
alterations to the script.
“We cut some things from the
text, I rearranged the order in which
some people are killed, and I killed
more characters than are in the
script,” LaPlant said.
LaPlant created the extra charac
ters by dividing the lines of the cho
rus among the members to give each
a more individual personality.
Sophomore Sarah Linder’s “charac
ter” is linked to lines dealing with
Electra’s living sister, Chrysothemis,
who is inclined to forgive Electra’s
mother for her act.
“My character is torn between
helping Electra and leaking informa
tion back to the palace,” Linder said.
LaPlant feels justified in his deci
sions because they help him reach
his ultimate thematic goal.
“I wanted to focus more on the
family dynamic of the play, so I had
Electra kill her mother last. ”
Although this is not the way
Sophocles intended, it is the way
the play ends in the interpretations
of other Greek playwrights Aeschy
lus and Euripides.
LaPlant is confident in his inter
pretation of the play and has the
backing of his cast.
“I think that the interpretation
works really well,” Linder said. “It
almost seems like the play was writ
ten to be presented like this. ”
“I’ve never been this proud about
a project,” Henderson said.
Electra runs April 13,14,19-21,2 7
and 28. All shows start at 8 p.m. in the
Robinson Theatre. There will also be
a benefit matinee performance for
Community Mediation Services on
April 22 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for
University students ($10 for the bene
fit matinee) and are available at the
EMU ticket office or at the theater box
office on days of performances.