ELEKTRA UNBOUND Comes to NTGent Next Month

With Elektra Unbound, NTGent house artist Luanda Casella stages yet another Greek tragedy. Or so we are made to believe. Hunting the part of Elektra, three young auditioners copy women from literary classics, pop culture and social media. Only to reveal their own disastrous lives.

Three auditioners are trapped in a sensational montage of interviews and improvs. As they interpret iconic scenes from The Oresteia, the full trilogy about Elektra and her dysfunctional family, they start to reveal their disastrous own lives. Late-bloomer director Lua and her fierce assistant Lucius, who have a troublesome relationship, never arrive at the point of actually staging Elektra. Why is Lua frantically running away? And why do we get the feeling that these auditioners are all deranged?

Rather than the best Elektra, Lua and Lucius are looking for the most tragic person, preferably someone with a seriously messed up relationship with his mother. Inspired by their knowledge of the workings of social media, director and assistant exploit personal suffering to the max. Why? Because it sells! 

Elektra Unbound  is the second NTGent performance to premiere during season 23-24, the Greek season in which the Belgian city theatre produces three radical reworkings of Greek tragedies. Medea's Children  by Milo Rau will follow from 11 April 2024, while Persians  by Action Zoo Humain will follow from 19 June. May and June 2024 will see the groundbreaking festival ALL GREEKS.

Elektra Unbound  is a co-production with deSingel (Antwerp, BE) and HAU Berlin. The cast includes Abigail Gypens, Bavo Buys, Emma Van Ammel, Lua Casella and Lucius Romeo-Fromm. The music design is from Pablo Casella.

DATES:

* 18, 20, 25, 26 and 27 January 2024: NTGent Schouwburg (8pm), Ghent (BE)
* 21 January 2024: NTGent Schouwburg (3 pm), Ghent (BE)
* 27 and 28 March 2024: KVS (8 pm), Brussels (BE)