ELECTRA the Rock Opera
When planning what we could do for Penny's CD launch I came up with the idea of doing a 10 minute "Rock Opera" on the ancient Electra myth. I've always thought that gladiators and rock and roll go well together and I also like the idea of surprising things at gigs ie actors dressed in bear skins waving swords. The piece ended up being about 25 minutes long. It essentially was based around five songs or riffs with narration over the top or in between the songs. Some of the songs were stolen from the Byrds, Tony Joe White and the Doors. Our idea of Electra was that she was a pretty groovy chick who has a sick and demented mother. The Electra myth is the female version of the Oedipus myth ie the daughter wants to sleep with her Dad and kill her Mum.

At the beginning our Electra -Juanita -stood on a podium wearing a white t-shirt with a glittering "E"on her front. Behind her the band, including a keyboardist and 2 back up singers , played. From the back of the venue her father Agamemnon (Peter) entered past the bar looking like a man-god tribal victor. The mother Clytemnestra (Caroline) had been sitting on stage with the band .Her outfit was lingerie with a see-through yellow raincoat. She played the role as a dominatrix. When ElectraÕs father was reunited with his daughter his wife butchered him from behind, the sword chopping down as Viv, one of the vocalists, sang. After this event Electra was chained up like a dog. From here she woofed and bow wowed and sang th "Step-Daddy Blues". Until one day when her brother dressed in leather pants, a sleeveless bear coat and a mask, arrived on the scene, like a flower power leader, a Jim Morrison swinging dick. Together they consumated their love. After this act of incest they plot revenge on their step father and mother and while the band played "The End" there was much chopping and fake blood splattered about stage

The actors were all top notch. Some of them I was working with at the time on my radio play or had worked with before. The musicians were outstanding in learning the piece with only a few rehearsals. And the costumes and props were magnificent, borrowed and hired from various theatrical stores (when you want to hire a sword you want a sword that looks real and dangerous) I think we had all the elements required for a rock opera as I see it - primal rock n roll, murder in graphic detail, incest, masochism, some tight groovy bits of music mixed with some rumbling messy stuff...Malcolm Hill
http://mcmalcolm.blogspot.com/