Electra or Elektra (Ancient Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, meaning "amber") is the name of one of the most famous characters from Greek mythology.

The mythological character Electra

She was the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and a princess of Argos. She and her brother Orestes sought revenge for the murder of their father by their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus.

The original play texts called Electra or Elektra

She is the main character in two ancient Greek tragedies, Electra by Sophocles and Electra by Euripides, but also appears as a the central figure in plays by Aeschylus, Alfieri, Voltaire, Hofmannsthal, Eugene O'Neill and many others.

Electra by Sophocles

Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan war, it is based around the character of Electra, and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.

Electra by Euripides

Electra (circa 413 B.C.), by Euripides (485-406 B.C.). The play deals with the same theme as that of the similarly named tragedy by Sophocles.

Electra (1900), by Spanish playwright Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920). The play discusses the problem of the girl who is being impelled towards a convent life for which she is entirely unsuited.

Translations and adaptations

A burlesque version of Electra, called Electra, in a new Electric Light, was written by Francis Talfourd (1828-1862)[1] and performed for the first time on 25 April 1859 at the Haymarket Theatre, London.

Translated into Afrikaans as Elektra by J.P.J. van Rensburg (published by Human & Rousseau, 1969).

Electra by Sophocles, adapted by John Barton and Kenneth Cavander. Published in The Greeks : ten Greek plays given as a trilogy, Heinemann, 1981.

Performance history in South Africa

1859: Talfourd's burlesque version performed (as Electra) in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, by the Cape Town Dramatic Club in October, with The Little Treasure (Harris).

1965: The Afrikaans translation Elektra was staged by PACT, directed by the Greek director Costis Michaelides (assisted by Leonora Nel), starring Anna Neethling-Pohl as Klutaimnestra at the Aula, Pretoria and the Civic Theatre, Johannesburg. Other members of the cast were Francois Swart (Orestes), Carel Trichardt (Paidagogos), Marius Weyers (Pulades), Tine Balder (Elektra), Petru Wessels (Chrusothemis), Louis van Niekerk (Aigisthos). Decor and costumes designed by Raimond Schoop.