Oedipus at Colonus

A semi-staged performance of a shortened version of Sophocles’ last tragedy.

“The Director, Professor Patrick Boyde, will be drawing on the experience gained with five successful dramatisations from the Odyssey in the same theatre and the same kind of mise-en-scene (Nausicaa, 2005; Penelope, 2007; Anticleia, Calypso, 2008; Circe, 2009).

The play will be read in the original Greek, but every twist in the plot will be as easy to follow as in a subtitled film in a foreign language, thanks to elegant surtitles which will be projected alongside new drawings by a local artist and images from ancient art; and every shift in the emotions of the characters will be reflected in the spoken rhythms of Sophocles’ words.

Live performances of short pieces for violin by Bela Bartok will punctuate the play, enhancing its tragic intensity and its guarded affirmation ofhuman worth. The play maps out some of the ‘ways of God[s] to men’ in a crucial phase of the disasters that befell the royal house of Thebes. It does not seek to ‘justify’ those inscrutable ways, as Milton did, but it does hold out a ray of hope – for Athens at least – while Oedipus, who continues to curse his sons to the very end, takes leave of his daughters with the words: ‘all your travails are redeemed by one word, Love’.

Your enjoyment will be increased if you are able to attend the introductory talk given before each performance and the open discussion of the play a few days later, when you will be able to share your impressions with other members of the audience and put your questions to the two experts from the Faculty of Classics.”
(Taken from publicity material)

Cast & Crew

Observations

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