Luanda Casella / NTGent

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 problematic sense of self.

Guided by ideas of fame and success, and other full-blown delusions, three auditioners go to a mad extent to get the part of Elektra. In ancient Greek tragedy, Elektra is a girl who wants. She wants to avenge her father’s death and everyone will hear her suffering. Sobbing and cursing, cursing and sobbing: Elektra hardly does anything else. She never leaves the doorway.

Similarly, the 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. Is their inability the result of the complex relation we all have with tragedy, or is there more at play? Why is Lua frantically running away? And why do we get the feeling that these auditioners are all deranged?

Inspired by melodrama and social media, 'Elektra Unbound' switches scenes as if the audience would swipe screens. Anything to keep the discomfort on stage easily digestible.