Here's a problem: you have a Hollywood star making his debut in London in the West End with little experience in drama. How do you alleviate any doubts in the actor himself or her audience? Of course, you give her a handheld microphone throughout the script.

OK, no, you don't.

Aside from the actual rebuttal (many actors nowadays hide microphones), Daniel Fish’s move has a stronger conceptual reason. Brie Larson's Elektra is a rebel, provocateur and that obsessed angry soul with her buzz and bikini Kill t-shirt, She will most likely bring her microphone around town to make her mother bessmirch her mother and be shocked by the world. She even had some Laurie Anderson-like amp effects, especially when laughing at mom, and indeed, it was really satisfying when she spits in Mike when she mentions anyone she dislikes.

In addition, choruses often use microphone stands, and sometimes rock stars are used when singing. So, that's all parts of the plan.

However, with the shouting, Amped Elektra drowned her lower voiced opponent-nearly audible sister chrysothemis (marièmetiemedeouf), solemn, inconsistent mother Clytemnestra (Stockard Channing : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ) and others - audible silence and annoying feelings and annoying feelings; and, because Larson simply cannot put Mike down in his 80-minute work, even in Elektra ) The most melancholy and failure moment is hard not to doubt whether this is the character's prop or the actor.

In short, it's a distraction, which is one of this weird fascinating, but also confusing explanations. Fish has had great success on Broadway and London, and his 2019 has had great success Okaa Oklahoma!especially its bold revisionism. But if the work finds new depth and meaning in its source, while respecting its basic appeal, the same magic is lacking here. Whatever the intention, Fish's intense sadness and revenge story for Sophocles misses two basic ambitions: It's not tragic, and in fact, it's absolutely immovable - despite the strong modernity of Anne Carson's translation , but it has no connection.

Sophocles are currently in fashion in London until now, flickering and properly devastating effects. I saw two works in the fall: the loose scene of Alexander Zeldin Antigonie, , , , , Another placestarring Emma D'Arcy, transfers the passion of myth and misdemeanors to contemporary British family homes, Robert Icke OedipusMark Strong's doomed king looks a lot like the British general election. Both are very primitive, while retaining the distortion of the source, the grip and the fierce provocation. Both reflect the family, politics, and society crisis today.

The fish is seeking similar authenticity, although his attempts seem to be in trouble and impact.

Of course, this situation is far from every day: Elektra's desire for his mother's bloody revenge is consumed. Although Elektra’s brother Orestes (Patrick Vaill) shares her desire for revenge, he refuses to hide. Meanwhile, she felt trapped, unnecessary and misunderstood the home of the two people she wanted to die.

Unlike Hamlet, who faces a wide range of similar dilemmas, Elektra undoubtedly experiences her desire for revenge, without softening to her parents. Unlike the Danish prince, her justice was subjected to the fact that Clytemnestra murdered her husband, which was almost the same as her husband, which was subjected to his cruel murder of another daughter. punish. Elektra's friend, the chorus of the drama, warned her not to repeat the bloody cycle, but to no avail.

Therefore, it may be difficult for her to like. Ten years ago, in the last work of the script here, Kristin Scott Thomas (re-tested collaboration with director Ian Rickson) Infused with much-needed humor in her portrayal, she felt rounded and even rooted despite her obsession.

Fish and Larson decided to emphasize Elektra's anger and frustration, and there was no doubt that this choice could bring Riot Grrrl T-shirt and punk poses to the presentation. But that doesn't make it a feminist explanation, it's just an aggressive explanation with a head: a machine that splashes black ink into the actor (Larson) leaves her neck Extensive stripes, another kind of distraction), it's a burst of pop music that rises from nowhere, with no obvious purpose, i.e., the microphone.

It's a shame because the translation is great, heartbreaking for a moment ("no rest, no retrieval, no such sad number"), the next simplistic ribald (clytemnestra is "how called bits") or with acerbic in The cuteness you might find in American teen movies (“Why not run and tell your mother”). It's just lost. Larson's performance stretches his voice best, singing Carson's poems like a choir. Sometimes, she also finds the irony that exists there. But for the most part, her delivery is flat, which is a monotonous bark that should be alienated when it should be moved.

Channing goes beyond chaos. She looked a little slutty on her fur coat, her clytemnestra was tired, alert to her daughter's intentions, but also arrogant. She was happy to pray to Apollo. It's a pity that she or Hicks' lububious, creepy Aegisthus has nothing more.

Vaill Okaa Oklahoma! As Orestes, there is not much room for gloss. But his ticket price is better as an unreliable messenger, and his monologue appears, his destruction of Orestes in the chariot race. Choirs, beautiful singers, striking in satin and coaches are the most interesting visuals, and raises the temperature whenever they offer many words of ignoring wisdom.

Location: Duke of York Theatre, London
Actors: Brie Larson, Hannah Bristow, Stockard Channing, Wallis Currie-Wood, Mary Marième Diouf, Jo Goldsmith-Eteson, Greg Hicks, Nardia Ruth, Rebecca Rebecca Thorn
Playwright: Sophocles, Anne Carson's translation
Director: Daniel Fish
Set Designer: Jeremy Herbert
Fashion designer: Doey Lüthi
Lighting Designer: Adam Silverman
Music: Tim Hearne
Sound Designers: Max and Ben Ringham
Proposed by Empire Street Productions