Set South Africa, Molara tells the story of the heirs to the House of Atreus, who are dispossessed of their inheritance. The younger female protagonist, Elektra, is forced to live as a servant in her father’s house, following his murder by her mother. Elektra awaits her brother Orestes return from exile, so that they can avenge their father and take back the land, which is rightfully theirs.

When viewed broadly, one can see the potential that the adaptation of the ancient (and brutal) Oresteia Trilogy has, for providing a microcosm of the violent backlash in a country historically beset with human rights abuses and unconscionable acts of dispossession. However, Molora’s undoing lies in the fact that throughout the play, the Greek tragedy style of over-acting, exaggerated movement and speech and melodrama, is unrelentessly embodied. I will explain this later.

The play opens with a mesmerizing musical performance by the Xhosa Chorus, whose captivating interweaving split-tone singing style, use of tribal instrument and formidable presence, easily transported me to a sand covered village in South Africa, bordered by palm trees. So far, so good!

The spotlight then focuses on two women seated at opposing tables – an allusion to the Truth & Reconciliation Committee, established following the end of apartheid South Africa. This was followed by a prolonged silence, after which the matriarchal female protagonist, Klytemnestra (Dorothy Ann Gould), starts to speak. Gould’s deep-throated, venom-tinged speech, is very sinister and this speech only adds to an unsettling aura, already created by the rasping noise made by her slow dragging of the microphone, preceding her speech. I immediately viewed her as deeply compelling and eerie from the off. 

When Elektra (Jabuile Tshabalala), at the opposing table starts to speak, her similarly, unrelenting splenetic utterances, set the tone for two women in verbal and physical warfare.
However, in the interactions between mother and daughter in the scenes which follow, this overacting and exaggerated style is continued. In speech and action, there is no deviation in Gould’s brash delivery and Elektra continues to make shrill, emotive proclamations and reactions, and this is where the play started to lose its potential impact: this lack of variation in delivery and the consequent one-dimensional characterisation which evolves, was not only jarring, but left me feeling unmoved, disinterested and bored! The two main protagonists virtually merge into one and their scenes felt like tedious, over-dramatised, Shakespearian monologues!
Molora @ The Pit
Based on the Oresteia Trilogy
9 - 19 April 2008 7.45pm
Box Office: 020 7638 8891