The work of 27-year-old Polish theater troupe Gardzienice might properly be called Theater of Intoxication, as every sound and motion seems to both invoke the invisible and be possessed by it. In their performances, word truly becomes flesh. It is no wonder, then, that the late Susan Sontag called them "one of the few essential theater companies working anywhere in the world today." With Elektra, Gardzienice's latest "theatrical essay" adapted from the Euripides play of the same title, the group once again proves her right. The ancient story of Elektra and her brother Orestes begins with their father, King Agamemnon, returning victorious from Troy, only to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Orestes is smuggled out of the city before he meets a similar fate, but Elektra is not so lucky: Aegisthus, worried that a royal offspring would seek vengeance for the murder, forces her to wed a peasant. Though the marriage remains chaste, Elektra is consumed with grief and anger
Twisted Sister
