Vision of MacConglinne: and Other Plays Book

Yael Farber's play is a stunning tour de force which revisits the Oresteia and maps it onto the contemporary struggle for South African identity in the wake of the end of Apartheid. Two options present themselves to the nation, as they do to Elektra and Orestes, vengeance or reconciliation. Klytemnestra, importantly, is the play's only white character.

Farber's foreword to the text edition sets out the complexity of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, making it clear that it isn't neatly reducible into either the nature of the new rainbow-coloured state, nor a simple "love thy neighbour as thyself". It is a deeper issue which touches on our common mortality and humanity, and whether we wish to pursue a future of peace or conflict. One of the motifs of play are ashes (the title Molora is the Sesotho word for 'ashes') and Farber does not shy away from identifying them from many of the major events of the 21st century, including 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Beyond the political and social context which establish the contours of the play, Farber's play itself is haunting and powerful. I found that parts of the play reminded me not only of the Greek source texts, but also Hamlet and Sartre's Les Mouches. For me one of the most powerful scenes in the play was the moment where Elektra moves from testifying against her mother into the past where we are confronted with a torture scene, mother against daughter. The parallels between that scene and the torture scene and Apartheid-era ones is made clear in Farber's stage directions which deliberately make it clear that the scene should not be sanitised. The Xhosa women who serve as the chorus are cleverly chosen, and the story of Farber's finding them to take part in the play is fascinating in its own right, and they provide an intensity and emotional presence which really makes the chorus a central part of the play. This is the first Farber play I read and it has definitely persuaded me to read more.