Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre...

Buy This Item Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre... by Image Entertainment  Available from Amazon  $26.99  on 11-26-2008     This expressionistic work is Eugene O'Neill's classic American drama of love, revenge, murder and suicide. Set against the backdrop of a small New England town in the post-Civil War era, O'Neill's saga of family discord fueled by psychological undercurrents is from Aeschylus' "The Oresteia." The end result is one of the American theatre's most shattering epic works. Reader Reviews I saw this production when it first aired on PBS in the 1970's and I believe that I was a little too greatful for the chance to see O'Neill's play "Mourning Becomes Electra" in any form and thought I was entranced by the performance. Seeing it 30 years later, I was disappointed. I must say that since that time I have also experienced (on TV) Glenda Jackson's superior "Strange Interlude" which is not considered as good a play as the former. I think the problem lies in the director's choice not to give us the stark acting of Expressionism that "Mourning Becomes Electra" needs to send it into the theatrical stratusphere of Hitchcockian detached horror. I do applaud the late, highly underrated Joan Hackett whose feverish portrayal and heightened make-up put us in the O'Neill ball-park. Also, Bruce Davidson approaches the realm of over the top which his manic "Orin" calls for. I find myself lucky to have attended the Met's performance of Martin David-Levy's opera based on "Mourning Becomes Electra" and although the faux atonal orchestrations tended to obliterate the beauty of much of the music the production itself designed by the formidible Boris Aronson to the audience right back to the Greeks. All in all if you have never seen this play you might check out for the hot tempered fagility of Ms. Hackett and the rapid ravings of Mr. Davidson.

Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre... Available from Amazon Price: $26.99 Updated on 11-26-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS