Oedipus November 16, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , trackbackI woke up yesterday morning, feeling a cold starting. Ignoring it, I checked the National Theatre’s site for returns for Oedipus, which is sold out but I was keen to see. Apollo was on my side, and I got a seat for the matinee just as Hygeia decided to have a go and the cold set in. Full of sudafed and feeling very sorry for myself (but at least not coughing and spluttering) I headed down the road to the theatre.
The story is well-known. Oedipus, King of Thebes (played by Ralph Fiennes), discovers that he has murdered his father and married his mother in unwitting fulfilment of a prophecy made at his birth. Freud thought it represented a common male fantasy, and Tom Lehrer had great fun with it.
Reviews of this have been mixed. As with most Greek drama, is very wordy, with events explained more than they are shown. Fiennes himself is almost unbearable to watch at times, so intense is the tragedy, but Clare Higgins as Jocasta is the one who really seems to get to the heart of it and draw the audience in As Oedipus works out what has happened, she sits silently, the truth slowly dawning, shaking in horror. The chorus of middle-aged, besuited men is a little odd and occasionally seems more church choir than Greek chorus.
The set is a large, bronzed dome, with huge doors at the back and a long wooden table. The doors move round through about 90 degrees and back during the performance, perhaps trying to illustrate a day. Behind and on either side of the doors, trees are occasionally revealed and also used as an entrance. The leaves fade from full summer to deepest winter as the tragedy unfolds.
Seat H26 in the stalls was perfect. Oedipus runs until 4 Jan, returns only.
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