Shirley Apthorp, Financial Times (17.12.2003)
Frozen with rage, she waits. Janice Baird's Elektra is a still point of fury at the heart of a society rotten with depravity. The others, in their lace suspender belts and latex, barely seem to see her. But we do. In cargo pants and hooded jacket, she is androgynous, damaged, and consumed with focused anger. She hardly spares a glance for the palace revellers as they tumble, drugged and naked, between offstage orgies.
Martin Kusej's new Zurich Elektra is surprisingly true to the text. Yes, we see more naked flesh and knickers than strictly necessary, but it's all in the good cause of painting a context twisted enough to produce a daughter hell-bent on murderous revenge. We glimpse whips, handcuffs, lewd intentions.
Rolf Glittenberg's set is the lobby of some diabolical hotel where sadism, incest and suicide are on the menu. Essentially, though, Kusej tells the story a psychopathic mother (Marjana Lipovsek, both ghastly and wonderful), a dreamy sister (Melanie Diener, with lush, creamy phrases), a sinister yet seductive brother (Jukka Rasilainen makes a dark, velvet-toned Orest), and a truly repugnant stepfather in a claustrophobic world where awful things happen as a matter of course.
It was almost impossible on the opening night, to believe that Janice Baird had arrived that afternoon from Düsseldorf to take over from the indisposed Eva Johansson. Nothing in her taut, smouldering performance suggested that she had not spent the previous six weeks rehearsing with the rest of the cast. Even the voice, slight but well-managed, seemed perfect for the 1,200-seat house. Zurich can afford an Elektra with more technique than power. And Baird brought a new level of thrill to an already exciting evening.
But with Christoph von Dohnányi on the podium, how could this Elektra fail? His Strauss has the self-evidence of Mozart, each line clear and natural. With a minimum of fuss, he makes the most of the score's astringency, giving equal weight to brutality and tenderness. Sick, but superb.