"Let's face it, comedy's a dead art form. Tragedy, now, that's funny."
Electra-thon '07! Sadly, one classic adaptation didn't make the cut for some reason, but Aeschylus's The Libation Bearers, Sophocles's Electra, and Euripides's Electra were all on the program. Two and a half hours of matricidal delights! It was actually a brilliant idea; seeing them right next to each other, performed by the same group of actors (switching roles), made it so much more obvious just how different the three were. Seeing Sophocles right after Aeschylus was particularly remarkable; it made me realize for the first time that comparisons between Sophocles and Shakespeare really aren't far off the mark at all. I mean, Sophocles had characters! I was also impressed with the way Euripides managed to make fun of poor Aeschie while simultaneously presenting a realistic and sympathetic vision of Clytemnestra. Plus the remorse shown by his Electra and Orestes was very human and believable. Aeschylus—I mean, the language was powerful, and he presented it all very well, but honestly I don't feel his drama was as real as what came after him. The audience vote at the end of the show pretty much agreed with my own impressions: 7 for Aeschylus, 18 for Euripides, 34 for Sophocles. I have no idea how I remembered those numbers. Damn.
I saw this little cavalcade of whimsy with the inimitable Miss Sumana, who was in town partly to see just this, as her friend was playing Sophocles's Orestes. It was the first time I'd ever met her in person, and I must say that anyone who can hang out with Sumana should hang out with Sumana. (I can't even begin to imagine what the combination of Sumana and Sarah would have been like.) She kept on laughing at the plays—hey, what's funnier than Greek tragedy?—which the director was absolutely thrilled by. She said after the show that Sumana was "like a child on Christmas Day". (She was a pretty adorable director, really.) Sumana also cracked up at my totally lame Euripides joke, though, so maybe her sense of humor isn't as sharp as all that. She's lucky I didn't subject her to my Orestes pun. (I also had an Electra joke I was working on, built around the question "So is Electra cute?", but couldn't see where I was going with it. Maybe Pylades could ask Orestes, and the latter could say "Shockingly so!" I might be pushing my luck there.)
(Now, of course, I am listening to the Mixmaster. Can't you see what's going on? Clytemnestra's a bitch of a mom.)