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Concept
Mourning Becomes Electra
Summary
Mourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932, starring Lee Baker (Ezra), Earle Larimore (Orin), Alice Brady (Lavinia) and Alla Nazimova (Christine). In May 1932, it was unsuccessfully revived at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) with Thurston Hall (Ezra), Walter Abel (Orin), Judith Anderson (Lavinia) and Florence Reed (Christine), and, in 1972, at the Circle in the Square Theatre, with Donald Davis (Ezra), Stephen McHattie (Orin), Pamela Payton-Wright (Lavinia), and Colleen Dewhurst (Christine).
Brigadier General Ezra Mannon
Christine Mannon, his wife
Lavinia Mannon – their daughter
Orin Mannon – their son, First Lieutenant of Infantry
Captain Adam Brant – of the clipper "Flying Trades"
Captain Peter Niles – Orin's friend, from the U.S. Artillery
Hazel Niles – his sister
Seth Beckwith – the old family retainer and gardener
Amos Ames – a middle-aged carpenter
Louisa Ames – Amos' wife
Minnie – Louisa's cousin
The Chantyman
Josiah Bordon – manager of the shipping company
Emma – his wife
Everett Hills, D.D. – of the First Congregational Church
His wife
Doctor Joseph Blake – a family physician
Ira Mackel – an old farmer
Joe Silva – a Portuguese fishing captain
Abner Small – a little old clerk in a hardware store
The story is a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. The characters parallel characters from the ancient Greek plays. For example, Agamemnon from the Oresteia becomes General Ezra Mannon. Clytemnestra becomes Christine, Orestes becomes Orin, Electra becomes Lavinia, Aegisthus becomes Adam Brant, etc. As a Greek tragedy made modern, the play features murder, adultery, incestuous love, and revenge, as well as a group of townspeople who function as a kind of Greek chorus. Although fate alone guides characters' actions in Greek tragedies, O'Neill's characters also have motivations grounded in 1930s-era psychological theory.
Official source
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