The National Theatre’s latest production, Electra/Persona, offers a daring theatrical fusion of two iconic works separated by more than two millennia. The play combines Sophocles’ Electra, originally staged around 420 BC, with Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film Persona, exploring themes of grief, identity, and moral conflict through a continuous, two-part performance.
Directed by Benedict Andrews, the production interweaves the classical Greek tragedy of Electra—who seeks to avenge her father’s murder by her mother, Clytemnestra—with Bergman’s modernist narrative, in which a psychiatric nurse, Alma, cares for Elisabeth, an actress experiencing a psychological breakdown while performing Electra. The staging utilizes a significant theatrical transition at the interval, linking the ancient and contemporary stories to form a cohesive meditation on mourning.
Andrews explained that Bergman’s Persona has long intrigued him, particularly due to the challenges of adapting a film so reliant on cinematic techniques such as close-ups and silence to the stage. “I was always fascinated by why Bergman chose to have Elisabeth break down while playing Electra, so I wanted to put them together,” he said. “It’s become clear in rehearsal that the whole evening is one cycle of grief.”
A distinctive feature of the production is the casting arrangement involving actors Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss. The two actresses alternate between the roles of Electra and Clytemnestra in the first half, and then as Elisabeth and Alma in the second, with their characters crossing over at intermission. Originally, Andrews considered having them decide roles by an onstage coin toss, but the risk of predictability—referencing Tom Stoppard’s play where a coin landed heads 92 times consecutively—led to changes. Instead, they will swap roles on different nights without prior disclosure to the audience or box office.
This layered structure demands extensive rehearsal, with Andrews describing the process as rigorous and complex. “Yesterday, unusually, we stayed in Electra all day but I still did an hour on Persona at the end. It’s important to do both every day,” he said. “Although they require very different energies. It’s not a double-bill; it’s one hinged work.”
Known for his innovative approaches to classic plays, Andrews has previously directed landmark productions such as Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. With Electra/Persona, he continues to push theatrical boundaries, blending ancient tragedy and 20th-century film to probe psychological and ethical depths.
Despite the logistical and artistic challenges, Andrews approaches the project with humor and determination, joking about the rewrites undertaken by the writer Dominic before advancing the play toward its premiere. Electra/Persona thus stands as a bold experiment in theatrical form, promising audiences an immersive experience that bridges disparate eras and artistic media through the universal language of human suffering and resilience.