Read our review of Oedipus on Broadway, director/adapter Robert Icke’s modern take on Sophocles’s Greek tragedy, starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville.
Robert Icke — the playwright/director known for putting modern yet mythically fatalistic spins on classic plays — knows you know how Oedipus is going to end. There’s the ticking clock resting on a windowsill, counting down to the reveal of the great “twist.” There’s the show’s tagline: “truth is a motherf—er.” And there’s the script littered with references to sight and blindness, and, naturally, to slang unprintable but which aggressively references too-close-for-comfort relationships between sons and mothers.
After millennia, Sophocles’s mother lode of a play Oedipus Rex — a grand work of ambition, moral decay, and the pain of seeing yourself and others as they really are — has been swallowed up by pop psychology and armchair history. Icke has attempted to give it the polish of the modern world: Oedipus, the soon-to-be King of Thebes, carries a cool, populist persona, complete with campaign posters evoking Obama’s “HOPE” era and a campaign HQ with an antiseptic, ivory aesthetic.
Oedipus (Mark Strong) and Jocasta (Lesley Manville) are a modern couple whose pristine appearance now trembles beneath the weight of the political office Oedipus is about to take. The politician overestimates what he and his family can withstand under the specter of public scrutiny: Oedipus’s obsession with honesty and truth, and sharing that with the people, forces him to realize how order is maintained through ignorance, manipulation, and blunt lies. That Icke has leaned on winking at the audience about the show’s finale strongarms the show into reordering its sense of tension. This new adaptation is less about what will happen or how, and without that thrust, Icke’s Oedipus struggles to find its meaning.
Despite telegraphing real political figures who have found themselves in Sophoclean situations, this adaptation also keeps the richness and terror of our modern political realities at arm’s length. What Oedipus and Jocasta see or don’t see — about their lives, their political ambitions, and one another — only succeeds on the strength of Strong and Manville’s performances.
While the absence of real tension (besides that signaled by the countdown) is frustrating, Strong and Manville find dramatic urgency in their relationship, played as misplaced optimism (or is it opportunism?) and passionate drive. The clarity of their want for one another, and their shared desire to propel themselves to power, rings sharp and crystalline. Even as doubt sets in, Strong and Manville’s dynamic is magnetic and explosive, like it’s about to set the whole world on fire.
Oedipus summary
On a modern-day election night, hopeful king Oedipus (Mark Strong), his wife Jocasta (Lesley Manville), and their family gather to prepare for the results. Oedipus plans to release his birth certificate to the public after facing criticism and doubt of his right to run for office — and his belonging in this Greek society.
When a homeless man named Teiresias (Samuel Brewer) gives the would-be king a disturbing prophecy about his father, mother, and the results of the election, the family starts to unravel and long-buried secrets are revealed.
Oedipus is the latest reimagined show from adapter/director Robert Icke, who has previously tackled shows like Aeschylus’s Oresteia, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
What to expect at Oedipus
Hildegard Bechtler’s sleek interiors are bright and immaculate, at first littered with the chaos of campaign debris strewn across tables, chairs, and couches. Tal Yarden’s video work includes a political interview at the beginning and a loop of exit polls on various monitors.
Icke’s Oedipus repeatedly nods to its audience’s knowledge (even if passive) of the play’s secrets and bends over backwards to make its language accessible, not infrequently at the expense of making it interesting.
What audiences are saying about Oedipus
Audiences are raving about Oedipus, which has a 90% approval rating on the review aggregator Show-Score. Across 145 reviews, many theatregoers are giving the show five stars and praising the writing, performances, and design.
- “Oedipus is so rarely produced I would have been grateful for a straightforward revival, but this update/revision by Robert Icke is a powerhouse.” – Show-Score user Crank It Up a Notch
- “Icke reworks Sophocles’ original to fit a modern context and manages to lose none of its original power.” – Show-Score user Stephen 3057
- “i loved this show. A very clever and harrowing political update of Oedipus. Cringey in the best sense and often hard to bear as an on stage timer ticks down the seconds before the horrible secret is revealed.” – Show-Score user bob 219942
Read more audience reviews of Oedipus on Show-Score.
Who should see Oedipus
- Classics fans will want to see how Icke updates and revises Sophocles to speak to a modern audience.
- Fans of Lesley Manville will want to see her electric and tornado-like performance as Jocasta.
- Mark Strong’s Oedipus helps keep the piece together, with his inner turmoil leaking out onto the stage in a captivating performance.
Learn more about Oedipus on Broadway
With a gleaming set, casual language, and chic cynicism, Robert Icke’s adaptation signals Oedipus‘s modern relevance in ways that are only sporadically truthful or interesting. But Mark Strong and Lesley Manville’s turns as Oedipus and Jocasta give this take on the Greek classic a grounded yet otherworldly sense of magnificent devastation.
Photo credit: Oedipus on Broadway. (Photos by Julieta Cervantes)
