Oedipus Rex
...you may have heard about his odd complex.
So, the third show of the Columbus Actor's Theater summer program was Oedipus Rex, the classic tragedy by Sophocles. Not Shakespeare. Despite it being Shakespeare-in-the-Park. Well, tonight it was Sophocles-in-the-Park, but that's still reason for brownies! And grapes, soda, sandwiches. Delicious!
The play was awesome. Now, I'm not normally a fan of Greek Tragedy, but...welll, Greek Tragedy wasn't nearly this funny when I had to read Antigone in high school. This play was absolutely hilarious, for a couple of reasons.
* The lead guy in the chorus had a fabulous voice. We couldn't decide if it was more like Scooby Doo or Yoda. But it was super crusty with wide pitch contours. He was just a joy to listen to.
* Most of the lines were the characters trashtalking each other. Creon and Oedipus were especially good: "You are not sane!" Teiresias was also just fantastic. "Do you think you can talk to me like that?" "- YES!" Actually Teiresias was all-around good. He had a beard any prophet would be proud of and, well, he was just good.
* One word: IRONY. I don't think I've ever fully understood irony to the same extent I did tonight. Really, if you looked up irony in a dictionary, it should really have a picture of Oedipus there. Every single line he uttered in the entire play, from "We must find the murderer and CAST HIM OUT!" to "Creon, you'll take such good care of Antigone, won't you?" was fairly epically ironic. Seriously, I wanted to strap Alanis Morisette down and make her watch this play. And the thing about irony is...it's really funny. I felt like Lysander earnestly nodding along with Pyramus & Thisbe. Every time Oedipus opened his mouth it was like: "Aw man, I know something you don't know!"
Actually, watching Oedipus's various "Oh Crap" moments over the course of the play was just absolutely lovely. That's where you could tell he was good actor. Like, for instance.
Jocasta: "Laes was killed by a band of robbers"
Oedipus: "See, that couldn't possibly have been me. Ha ha ha!"
Jocasta: "At the place where three roads meet"
Oedipus: "Ha h- ... wait, did you say three roads?"
Jocasta: "Yeah, on the approach to Delphi"
Oedipus: "... well crap."
And the whole play was like that. Seriously. The play was made of two things: irony and mood whiplash. It was awesome.
It was performed in very greek fashion. That is, it was a lot of old white men standing around in togas. The Chorus all wore plague masks, both because they were the chorus and because there was a plague. (Appropriate!) The set design was extremely minimal - just a few assorted marble-ish blocks, and an altar in the middle. And it was performed in the round - they invited people up onto the stage - or, rather, onto the concrete walk around and behind the stage. It was quite effective. (We declined, since we had brought a whole picnic. But there was a really stoned girl in front of us who was more than happy to share our (mundane) brownies. That was different!) So I think they were trying to do it very much in the ancient Greek style - and as the Ancient Greek audience would have, we of course knew everything that was going to happen.
The moral of the story seemed to be "Never go to Delphi." Not that you can avoid self-fulfilling prophecies by not hearing them but... seriously. Also, I would have to say that Oedipus made his problems a lot worse by having a really awful temper. So he gets knocked into in the street and decides to kill everyone there??? Anakin Skywalker much? (Not just the men - but the women - and the children). Really, he did seem to fly into a rage an awful lot. And when the Big Reveal finally comes along he breaks the altar in the middle of the stage. Very dramatic.
Also, what's up with this line: "Many men have slept with their mothers in their dreams" ?????? So, Freud, 2000+ years late onto the scene, I see.
Teiresias's guide may have been the same little Indian kid who played the Changeling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, by the way. He and little Antigone did the Prologue (that is to say, encouraging donations and telling us to turn off our phones and such).
Anyway, the whole thing was utterly lovely, and we laughed our heads off. Possibly not the appropriate reaction. Oh! And Oedipus came out at the end with no eyes! It was awesome - really excellent special effect. Well, his eyes were tied up in a bloody cloth and there were streaks of blood down his cheeks. It was like "wow! and then there was gore!" Actually a lot like MacDuff coming in with MacBeth's head in the end of the Scottish Play. But the guy who described Jocasta's death and Oedipus's maiming was really having a great time with it. You could tell when he got to the bit about the eyes that this was what he'd been waiting for. It was good fun.
Anyway, we enjoyed the play greatly, even without the fireflies (late in the season for them, sadly). The acting was predominantly very good, there were lots of wacky old shepherds and such and...well, it was just an awful lot of fun. Definitely glad we went. As always. So - congrats on a successful 30th season, Shakespeare-in-the-Park! Please keep providing us with free outdoor theater, and we will continue to go and eat brownies at you.
(Also, can anyone tell me where such a greek play got such a latin name? Seriously, what's with the "Rex", team?)
So, the third show of the Columbus Actor's Theater summer program was Oedipus Rex, the classic tragedy by Sophocles. Not Shakespeare. Despite it being Shakespeare-in-the-Park. Well, tonight it was Sophocles-in-the-Park, but that's still reason for brownies! And grapes, soda, sandwiches. Delicious!
The play was awesome. Now, I'm not normally a fan of Greek Tragedy, but...welll, Greek Tragedy wasn't nearly this funny when I had to read Antigone in high school. This play was absolutely hilarious, for a couple of reasons.
* The lead guy in the chorus had a fabulous voice. We couldn't decide if it was more like Scooby Doo or Yoda. But it was super crusty with wide pitch contours. He was just a joy to listen to.
* Most of the lines were the characters trashtalking each other. Creon and Oedipus were especially good: "You are not sane!" Teiresias was also just fantastic. "Do you think you can talk to me like that?" "- YES!" Actually Teiresias was all-around good. He had a beard any prophet would be proud of and, well, he was just good.
* One word: IRONY. I don't think I've ever fully understood irony to the same extent I did tonight. Really, if you looked up irony in a dictionary, it should really have a picture of Oedipus there. Every single line he uttered in the entire play, from "We must find the murderer and CAST HIM OUT!" to "Creon, you'll take such good care of Antigone, won't you?" was fairly epically ironic. Seriously, I wanted to strap Alanis Morisette down and make her watch this play. And the thing about irony is...it's really funny. I felt like Lysander earnestly nodding along with Pyramus & Thisbe. Every time Oedipus opened his mouth it was like: "Aw man, I know something you don't know!"
Actually, watching Oedipus's various "Oh Crap" moments over the course of the play was just absolutely lovely. That's where you could tell he was good actor. Like, for instance.
Jocasta: "Laes was killed by a band of robbers"
Oedipus: "See, that couldn't possibly have been me. Ha ha ha!"
Jocasta: "At the place where three roads meet"
Oedipus: "Ha h- ... wait, did you say three roads?"
Jocasta: "Yeah, on the approach to Delphi"
Oedipus: "... well crap."
And the whole play was like that. Seriously. The play was made of two things: irony and mood whiplash. It was awesome.
It was performed in very greek fashion. That is, it was a lot of old white men standing around in togas. The Chorus all wore plague masks, both because they were the chorus and because there was a plague. (Appropriate!) The set design was extremely minimal - just a few assorted marble-ish blocks, and an altar in the middle. And it was performed in the round - they invited people up onto the stage - or, rather, onto the concrete walk around and behind the stage. It was quite effective. (We declined, since we had brought a whole picnic. But there was a really stoned girl in front of us who was more than happy to share our (mundane) brownies. That was different!) So I think they were trying to do it very much in the ancient Greek style - and as the Ancient Greek audience would have, we of course knew everything that was going to happen.
The moral of the story seemed to be "Never go to Delphi." Not that you can avoid self-fulfilling prophecies by not hearing them but... seriously. Also, I would have to say that Oedipus made his problems a lot worse by having a really awful temper. So he gets knocked into in the street and decides to kill everyone there??? Anakin Skywalker much? (Not just the men - but the women - and the children). Really, he did seem to fly into a rage an awful lot. And when the Big Reveal finally comes along he breaks the altar in the middle of the stage. Very dramatic.
Also, what's up with this line: "Many men have slept with their mothers in their dreams" ?????? So, Freud, 2000+ years late onto the scene, I see.
Teiresias's guide may have been the same little Indian kid who played the Changeling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, by the way. He and little Antigone did the Prologue (that is to say, encouraging donations and telling us to turn off our phones and such).
Anyway, the whole thing was utterly lovely, and we laughed our heads off. Possibly not the appropriate reaction. Oh! And Oedipus came out at the end with no eyes! It was awesome - really excellent special effect. Well, his eyes were tied up in a bloody cloth and there were streaks of blood down his cheeks. It was like "wow! and then there was gore!" Actually a lot like MacDuff coming in with MacBeth's head in the end of the Scottish Play. But the guy who described Jocasta's death and Oedipus's maiming was really having a great time with it. You could tell when he got to the bit about the eyes that this was what he'd been waiting for. It was good fun.
Anyway, we enjoyed the play greatly, even without the fireflies (late in the season for them, sadly). The acting was predominantly very good, there were lots of wacky old shepherds and such and...well, it was just an awful lot of fun. Definitely glad we went. As always. So - congrats on a successful 30th season, Shakespeare-in-the-Park! Please keep providing us with free outdoor theater, and we will continue to go and eat brownies at you.
(Also, can anyone tell me where such a greek play got such a latin name? Seriously, what's with the "Rex", team?)