Elektra
Sophokles
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From the publisher
Translated by Anne Carson
Elektra, haunted by her father's assassination, is tormented by grief; a fierce instinct for survival; and a thirst for vengeance. When her long-lost brother Orestes at last returns, she urges him to take savage and terrifying action, but at what cost?
This edition of Sophokles' electrifying and timeless play features the magisterial translation by award-winning poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson.
It was published alongside Daniel Fish's production starring Brie Larson, Stockard Channing, Greg Hicks and Patrick Vaill, which opened at the Theatre Royal Brighton in 2025, before transferring at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End.
'Carson's translation is a jewel: caustic, forceful, filling the air with memorable images without losing the pulse of action' Observer
'Penetrating... lean, charged and fresh... translated by Canadian poet Anne Carson, with crystalline verse... this is a play about women, power and patriarchy... an oblique lesson for our times' Guardian
'Stripped back... full of strangeness and insight... Anne Carson's poetic, prickly translation' WhatsOnStage
'Anne Carson's vivid translation [is] rigorous but very actable, violently poetic but not above the occasional joke or injection of contemporary irony... riveting' Globe and Mail