![\"gore](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/gore_304762319.jpg\" "\\"gore")
gore (i want to disappear)
5 Stars out of 5
Stage 3, Nordic Studio Theatre, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns 10330 84 Ave.
You’d think that you’d need a Cole’s Notes to make sense of Elena Belyea’s contemporary take on Aeschylus’s The Oresteia, but fear not.
Yes, it’s a Greek tragedy involving a multitude of mythological characters, and yes those characters are played by just four performers (Sarah Emslie, Geoffrey Simon Brown, Autumn Strom, and Kristen Padayas), but a talented director/playwright and cast can do wonders. Just don’t ponder too deeply on the meaning of those bottles of Gatorade sitting at the very front of the stage.
Let’s just take a deep breath and see if we can keep this soap opera straight: King Agamemnon kills the prize stag of the goddess Artemis, who responds by cursing his lineage. Agamemnon’s daughter is collateral damage from the fallout, which incenses his wife, Klytemnestra, who immediately has it in for her husband. Electra then wants revenge on her mother, pulling in her brother Orestes for the deed. Families, right?
That’s the traditional retelling, but Belyea has done a fair amount of cutting and gluing for this production. The kids run the gamut of gender; Orestes is a warrior and future king, but what if he wants to be “a hockey player, or a farmer, or a bride?” He’s glued to his video games while Electra sulks. In this retelling the prophetess Cassandra sticks around, striking up a friendship with Electra where she admits to huffing fumes from volcano vents for fun. Everyone dances to The Teaches of Peaches, everyone has a cell phone. The Furies? They just seem bored.
This is an exceptional production, and don’t fret — knowledge of deep cut Greek tragedies is not necessary for enjoyment.