Orestes 2.0 is a modern re-telling of Orestes by Euripides. In the original Orestes, we follow Orestes in the events that happen after he murders his mother including: a trial, madness, murder and a kidnapping plot. The main characters in this version of the play are Orestes, his sister Electra, Helen, Menelaus, and the chorus. In Orestes 2.0 the characters and the plot are the same as the original but completely mangled and chaotic.
As I entered the Studio Theatre on the Lone Mountain campus at USF expected mediocrity and was stunned by what I saw. The set was absolutely awful, even for an under funded college play. Four make shift gurneys sit on stage surrounded by loose stones and set against what seems like a military field hospital. The Godfather Waltz awkwardly plays in the background, only complimenting the vacant stares of the audience. Seventy percent of the audience seem reluctant to be here, probably forced by a friend or teacher. The lights in the auditorium dim and a young woman in a lab coat comes to the front of the stage. With a strained face, that reflects effort, she stiffly rattles of an autopsy report. After this, a group of nurses in drag walk in, not just any drag, a cheap neon attempt at drag. They seem to have come from a rave next store and do not belong among the military themed set. All the gurneys begin to move and the patients begin to scream. This just causes confusion and concerned looks from the audience. Electra enters, shaking and wandering around the set, looking lost. The actress is oddly stunning and her physical performance is convincing, but her pure American girl voice does not the match the madness. Helen enters looking like Nazi officer’s wife, she pulls a few laugh from the crowd by acting extremely vapid, and pull a smile from me. I still do not know where we are. Are we in the middle of World War II? An asylum? Who are these people in the ward? Is it even a ward? And most importantly why are there nurses dressed whores from the 1980s?
All this confusion takes away from the few positive aspects of the play. There are gems: Electra’s passion, Helen’s Stepford aura and Orestes delusion. The actors interject the scenes by screaming at the top of their lungs. The constant screaming is not only poison to the ears, but also unprovoked and non-sensible. Most of the audience is looking around asking their fellow patrons with worried eyes for answers, for clarification. Out of no where a messy blond boy starts singing a song about a sea faring captain and is accompanied by, what looks like to me, an ex-member of ZZ Top. After a few more confusing scenes, something happens that makes me decide to end my suffering and leave the play. Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” starts playing at full volume and the actors start simulating raunchy sex and dancing. All the sexual scenes in this play were used to pull laughs from the audience and not a part of the plot. This pushed me over the edge and I was about to get up when a miracle happened. A large patient begins a monologue about how he murdered his family and the enjoyment and beauty it held. There is a maniacal glint in his eye and he speaks with such sincerity, his talent firmly plants my bum in my seat. I believe he loves to kill and truly saw beauty in the death of his kin. This guy, Matthew Laderoute, is amazing! He brings to mind the simple beauty in Lenny, from Of Mice and Men. I am honestly blown away. The only other time I enjoyed myself during this production was when the blind set designer decided to put a fog machine directly under a patron chair. The unsuspecting boy was engulfed with smoke and sat with smirk on face, embarrassed.
