Electra Speechless

Zusammenfassung

I have learned a lot from my distinguished predecessors here. The only thing I can do is talk very briefly about my history with this play, not because you are interested in me, but because it’s a peculiar history and a very peculiar play. I can honestly say that I have never had a more astonishing experience than playing in this play. It completely transformed my relationship to acting and, I may say, my relationship to life. I can’t find another play to follow it. So I’ll begin by telling you its history. The play came my way at the end of the 1989 season at the Royal Shakespeare Company when I was sick of doing comedies. What a mistake! They were trying to make us do a very long run of the Taming of the Shrew, which I loathed, so I was asked to think of a play I would like to do, and I aimlessly thought I might do a Greek play. Luckily at the same time Deborah Warner had a similar idea. So we met and thought we might do Electra. Then she got cold feet and said it was impossible. She read the play and said it is impossible; she’s completely correct.