Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...But you find a great performance, beautifully supported by other actors, and that makes many of the tough decisions within the material, all on its own. This play always seems to relate to the wider world. On Saturday, Electra, live, felt like she was the embodiment of a cautionary tale on what transpires when bitterness turns to vengeance."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...The heart of this production, though, is Kate Fry's obsessed Electra, at once Hamlet mad, Hamlet lucid, and Hamlet wry in her response to a situation that makes her Hamlet's spiritual ancestor. Fry holds our rapt attention throughout the 90-minute drama, yet it's only in the last seconds, with a simple bit of blocking, that we catch the full resonance of her trauma."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...The story is drawn from mythology and already would have been known to the play's first audiences. It focuses on the messy aftermath of the Trojan War during which Agamemnon, the top Greek general, sacrificed his own daughter to insure victory. Returning home, he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, in vengeance for the daughter ( and so she could marry her lover, Aegisthus ). Now, years later, Agamemnon's surviving daughter and son, Electra and Orestes, claim justice by murdering Clytemnestra ( beautiful, icy Sandra Marquez in a striking blue gown by Jacqueline Firkins ) and Aegisthus ( Michael Pogue ). The gods approve eventually, but that's another play."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...When the play concludes-and Rudall's rough trilogy along with it-it's hard not to notice that there is very little hope on hand. Duty has been done, yes, and "justice" has been delivered...but all that really means is more bodies, more killing, more blood. Even now, the present is still indistinguishable from the past. "
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...Electra grieves and seethes, and waits. In Sophocles' "Electra," the classic Greek tragedy of vengeance, now starring Kate Fry in an earthy, understated take on the title role at Court Theatre, the waiting game is all."
ChicagoCritic - Not Recommended
"...But what of the acting? If all the performances had been in the same production, then much could be excused: then, there would at least be a grounding for understanding the outlying elements. But, alas!, not even this was to be! Seret Scott articulates no clear, unified vision for this production and lets her actors stray in style, just as she lets her production team run wild with their imaginations."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...I didn’t expect to be spellbound by “Electra”! Court Theatre’s riveting interpretation of the Greek tragedy blew me away. Talk about a dysfunctional family! It does make for great drama, though."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...'Electra' falls in between those two extremes. Although the show's cast is filled with terrific actors - the dynamic Kate Fry, charismatic Sandra Marquez, and captivating Michael Pogue are especially good - Seret Scott's direction really overplays the melodrama, as Nicholas Rudall's translation sets actor after actor into long-winded diatribes and speeches about their emotional state. I get it - we're dealing with Greek tragedy here - but Scott's direction, which seems to emphasize shocked expressions and gestured of dismay at all turns, turns the drama to 11, and it all becomes a bit too much to bear after awhile."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The doomed house of Atreus is a house of many colors. Yet the production presents an unsettling image by substituting race for the masks of tragedy: Yellow for the obsequious sister, black for the disreputable king, brown for the evil mother. The righteous extermination at the end leaves the white ones standing. It is a curious outcome for our times, an intention that is as unclear as the pastiche of ethnic and historical elements haphazardly deployed throughout."
