A nightly coin toss turns two celebrated performers into reflections of one another.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss are alternating roles every night in Electra/Persona, an ambitious National Theatre production combining Sophocles’ ancient tragedy Electra with Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 psychological film Persona. Directed and adapted by Benedict Andrews, the work examines grief, vengeance, silence and the unstable boundaries of identity.
Each performance begins with a coin toss that determines which actress will portray Electra and the silent performer Elisabeth Vogler, and which will become Clytemnestra and nurse Alma. Audiences consequently cannot know the final casting arrangement before entering the theatre. The mechanism requires Blanchett and Hoss to master two contrasting characters in each half of the production.
Sophocles’ story follows Electra’s obsession with avenging the murder of her father, Agamemnon, by confronting her mother, Clytemnestra. Bergman’s Persona centres on an actress who suddenly refuses to speak and the nurse assigned to care for her. As their relationship intensifies, their identities begin to overlap and psychological distinctions become increasingly uncertain.
Andrews presents the two works as a continuous meditation rather than a conventional double bill. Minimalist staging, live cameras and projected close-ups connect ancient family violence with Bergman’s exploration of performance and fractured identity. Ella Lily Hyland and Patrick Robinson complete the principal cast in roles that also bridge both narratives.
Critics have praised the emotional force and adaptability of Blanchett and Hoss, particularly during the Greek tragedy, while some have found the cinematic techniques and abstraction of the second half less effective. The production nevertheless offers a rare theatrical experiment in which chance alters the balance of power every night. Electra/Personaruns at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre until October 10.
Lo visible y lo oculto, en contexto. / The visible and the hidden, in context.