Elektra

Richard Strauss/Hugo Von Hofmannstahl

100 years of Elektra!

First in Dresden, now in the Frisian pastures!

Elektra, cruelly imprisoned in the labyrinth of her own hate, lives like a wild animal in the stalls of the palace of her mother, Klytemnestra.

She mourns her dead father, Agamemnon, who was murdered by her mother and Aegisthus, Klytemnestra's lover. She thinks of nothing but revenge.

Elektra can neither forget nor forgive.

Opera Spanga presents Elektra in a half-open tent with a stage that stretches to the horizon.

The fire of Elektra's hate runs like a long, raging, endless fuse extending into the pasture and beyond-- to infinity.

Press

´But it must be said: this time the staging hits the mark. It is full of successful ideas, such as Elektra, who keeps counting out her steps so that she will be able to find the buried axe with which her mother must be murdered. The scene on the see-saw with Elektra and her returning brother Orestes has a touching, child-like pathos.´

Trouw, August 17, 2009

´...but in Spanga, where the concept 'traditional' is avoided like the plague, it worked. In spite of this light touch, the emotions, the oppressive feeling and the sense of the inevitable were palpable. The determination of the grim title heroine and the upbeat naiveté of Elektra's sister Chrysothemis (Maaike Widdershoven), fluttering around in her gold lamé gown as messenger between mama and the disenfranchised Elektra, were clearly presented. (...) I have just one piece of advice for anyone who does not like opera or who finds it an outdated art form: Go to Spanga.'

Leeuwarder Courant, August 17, 2009

'This time the vocal aspect also came together, and thus Spanga has succeeded in transforming a heavy drama into a vehement tent opera.'

Dagblad van het Noorden, August 17, 2009

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