Elektra

Sonnwendviertel [ENA] Her children were sacrificed one by one. The daughter of another woman was sacrificed to a brutal god to get wind which would drive the sail of her husband to continue a battle. The child and the husband of another one was killed, and the murder paid bribe to her husband to marry her. She killed this abuser, but her daughter saw it and in full vengeance swarded to take a revenge for the death of her husband.

These are not horror stories but pieces from the Ancient Greece methodology. Of cause any art is an exaggeration to get catharsis, to get a feeling, to wake a feeling in spectator. And of cause several things changes since the times of Ancient Greece but the question remains of how many women are still exhibited to various kinds of violence, including physical, psychological, and emotional ones. How many are suffering silently while being ashamed to discuss this issue with their families and friends. And the extreme situations when Austria was chocked by murdering of women during the last year, including a 13-year-old girl.

The topic of violence and power abuse is being thematized by the author and actress Rita Luksch and by a musician and composer Georg Luksch in the theater performance “Elektra” which was inspired by the ancient Greece story about Elekta daughter of powerful Agamemnon who was murdered by his wife. The play included a careful review of the Ancient Greece story while being performed very emotionally by Rita with dynamic music of Georg and innovative video elements on the background. While being performed by two artists the performance takes someone’s attention until the end while stimulating thinking about inequalities and power abuse in a modern society.

And of cause violence does not know gender differences. Men can be equally victims of violence as women as well as children and animals. Violence is growing in the atmosphere of unequal power and of this power abuse which frequently happens in silence. It can be also connected with asymmetry in access to education, resources, and possibility to defend own rights. Violence lives in society where we are indifferent to each other.