A brutally funny modern tragedy, ELECTRA IN A ONE-PIECE re-imagines the bloody Greek tale for our digital era. When Elle discovers that her mother has murdered her father and is burying him in the backyard, she sends for help the only way she knows how: the internet. Armed only with a video camera, she videotapes the gruesome scene and posts it on YouTube to alert her brother stationed in Iraq, inadvertently becoming an overnight YouTube sensation. Urged on by the chatter of anonymous commenters clamoring for more, Elle and ...
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A brutally funny modern tragedy, ELECTRA IN A ONE-PIECE re-imagines the bloody Greek tale for our digital era. When Elle discovers that her mother has murdered her father and is burying him in the backyard, she sends for help the only way she knows how: the internet. Armed only with a video camera, she videotapes the gruesome scene and posts it on YouTube to alert her brother stationed in Iraq, inadvertently becoming an overnight YouTube sensation. Urged on by the chatter of anonymous commenters clamoring for more, Elle and her family saturate the internet with videos, stirring controversy and piquing the interest of a savvy television producer with plans for a camera-ready bloodbath. "... no joke is left behind in ELECTRA IN A ONE PIECE, the debut play from lively newcomer Isaac Oliver ... But Oliver's ELECTRA isn't some respectfully calibrated "update"; it's a great screaming goof, a liberating and heedless mash-up of tossed-off poesy, FunnyorDie.com irreverence, and, every so often, a flash of sincere despair. The burlesque is Oliver's mode here, with more than a dash of South Park ... an atmosphere that's somehow ominous, numinous, and hilarious, all at once. This being a sort of Oresteia, it's hard to keep up with the body count ... Oliver's impetuous young voice combines Joss Whedon sass with Nicky Silver savagery, and succeeds ... it's an impressive debut from a monstrous new talent, and proof that depths and shallows can occasionally be found at the same end of the pool." -Scott Brown, New York Magazine "Greek tragedy gets a suburban makeover in Isaac Oliver's ELECTRA IN A ONE-PIECE, a brash rewrite for the YouTube age, which transports an ancient bloodbath to a backyard pool - with results that are clever ..." -Miriam Felton-Dansky, The Village Voice
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