Formidable cast powers ‘Electra’ at Calvin Center

July 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Milan Paurich

YOUNGSTOWN

When Electra (Terri Labedz) finally confronts her despised mother, Clytemnestra (Grace Voulvalis), in the Rust Bust Theater Company’s adaptation of Sophocles’ “Electra,” it’s like watching the combustion of fire and ice.

The hot-blooded Electra has been harboring a seething — and understandable — grudge against the frosty matriarch since Clytemnestra and Clytemnestra’s lover, Aegisthus (Tom Smith), murdered her beloved father, Agamemnon. Spitting their lines at each other like wounded animals, the two women unleash a torrent of vitriol hoping to scald each other with words.

What neither realizes, not consciously anyway, is that its their cursed sex that makes them commit such unspeakable acts of brutality. A woman’s lot is never an easy one, and the women in Greek tragedies have an even harder time of it than most members of the fairer sex.

Reduced to their narrative basics, plays such as “Electra” (and “Medea” and “Antigone,” which complete Rust Belt’s “Greek Trilogy” later this summer) are really just juicy, oversized soap operas at heart.

By playing up the familiar tropes of sudsy melodramas (the vengeful daughter; the steely, aristocratic mother; the dutiful, if sexually ambiguous brother; etc.), “Electra” director/scenarist Robert Dennick Joki has crafted a terrifically accessible and entertaining introduction to the classics.

Staged in the Calvin Center’s intimate, 40-seat performance space, the stripped-down production is functional at best. The most-elaborate element in Joki’s set design is the artwork of local artist Daniel Horne, whose Scrap Heap Sculptures serve as a kind of spiritual talisman. One particularly inspired touch is the use of hand-dyed sheets as backdrops for the show. The use of dramatic silhouettes to set the play in motion is remarkably accomplished considering the obvious space and budgetary constraints.

In a uniformly strong cast, Labedz and Voulvalis are particular standouts. Seething with palpable anger and sorrow (“This grief is becoming too much for one woman to bear”), Labedz’s Electra is a volcanic force of nature. It’s a powerfully moving tour-de-force by one of our very best local actresses.

As the imposingly regal Mommy Dearest, Voulvalis never allows Clytemnestra to descend into tacky histrionic villainy. Her nuanced performance is a marvel of subtlety and restraint. Nicole Zayas brings unexpected layers of poignancy to the role of Electra’s pragmatic sister, Chrysothemis, and Nathan Beagle makes deus ex machina Orestes a chillingly complex assassin.

Because this is a Joki production, playful stylistic touches abound. I loved how Orestes and second-in-command Pylades (Rick Morrow) look like members of Mussolini’s Black Shirts Brigade.

And dressing Smith’s Aegisthus like a midlevel Mafia don is a fantastically witty — and apt — touch.

My only real complaint is that Joki occasionally errs on the side of caution. It would have been fascinating if he’d taken some of his imaginative revisionist touches to even wilder extremes. (I also hope that he’ll consider adding more contractions to the dialogue: “it’s” sounds a lot better than “it is” to contemporary ears.)

Perhaps next time. After all, Rust Belt’s production of “Medea” opens in three short weeks.

“Electra” runs through Saturday at the Calvin Center. For reservations, call 330-507-2358.