Oedipus

Oedipus
Studio 54
December 23, 2025

Photo courtesy of Oedipus

Robert Icke’s version of Sophocles’ Oedipus is riveting.  The story is set in the present, driven by desire for power.  Every word in this adaptation is purposeful.  Every action is intentional.  The cast is focused and connected.  The characters are aggressively ambitious.  The tension builds at a perpetual pace, erupting at moments of heightened frustration.  Every minute of the two hour running time (with no intermission) is intensely absorbing. 

It is election night.  Oedipus (played by Mark Strong) is running for office.  He has a solid lead in the pools and makes a few last-minute promises.  He vows to release his birth certificate, proving his citizenship and calming concerns about his commitment level.  He also promises to start an investigation into the murder of Laius, his wife Jocaste’s first husband, who ruled the country until his murder decades earlier.  Oedipus’s campaign manager, Creon (played by John Carroll Lynch), knows the truth about the events leading to Laius’ death, and is uncomfortable that Oedipus made the decision to investigate without conferring with him first.  When Oedipus’ mother, Merope (played by Anne Reid), hears that Oedipus is planning to turn over his birth certificate, she leaves her husband’s deathbed and travels to see him.  Jocasta (played by Lesley Manville) prepares a surprise dinner for Oedipus at the campaign office.  She secretly invites their three children, Antigone (played by Olivia Reis), Polyneices (played by James Wilbraham), and Eteocles (played by Jordan Scowen), to celebrate Oedipus’ impending victory.  Before they arrive, Oedipus is visited by a blind beggar, Teiresias (played by Samuel Brewer), who shares three predictions, which shifts Oedipus’ demeanor. 

Lesley Manville & Mark Strong
Photo courtesy of Oedipus

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville are brilliant together.  Mr. Strong’s Oedipus is indomitable and
explosive.  Ms. Manville portrays Jocasta as determined and vivacious.  Their passion and attraction are robust.  Their bond is visceral.  Ms. Manville stunningly delivers a long speech, revealing her abusive marriage to Laius and the birth of her first child, at fourteen years of age.  This important backstory is beautifully written.  The details are gruesome and specific, allowing for the scope of the Oedipus myth to be relevant in modern times. 

Olivia Reis, Mark Strong, Lesley Manville, Jordan Scowen, & James Wilbraham
Photo courtesy of Oedipus

Mr. Icke’s adaptation fully acknowledges that every member of the audience knows the outcome of the story.  The opening scene, which is filmed, sets up the premise and the subsequent downfall of the characters.  The tension and suspense build as the audience waits for the reveal.  It does not disappoint.  When the truth is fully comprehended by Oedipus and Jocasta, they are in shock.  It is personal and tragic.  The audience holds their breath to see how they will proceed.  As they start responding, the ending becomes uncertain.

Oedipus is playing at Studio 54 through February 8.  It is a powerful adaptation, brilliantly directed, and masterfully performed. 

Domenick Danza

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Bristol Old Vic

BAM Harvey Theater

May 12, 2018

Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

The Bristol Old Vic production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night is now playing at Brooklyn Academy of Music.  The cast is truly amazing, bringing new insight to Eugene O’Neill’s well-known characters.  Jeremy Irons masterfully plays James Tyrone and Lesley Manville vividly portrays his wife, Mary.  Matthew Beard and Rory Keenan set the stage ablaze as brothers Edmund and Jamie.  Jessica Regan is biting and sarcastic as Cathleen, their summer maid.  Directed by Sir Richard Eyre, this production brings vibrant depth and dimension to the tragic relationships depicted in this American classic.

The cast of Long Day's Journey Into Night
Photo courtesy of  Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Long Day’s Journey Into Night is Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical tragedy.  Not produced until after his death, it chronicles a day in the life of characters modeled after his family.  Each bares their soul, whether out of sorrow, jealousy, or spite, revealing the impetus of their individual downfall.  James Tyrone, a once admired matinee idol, is now aging and holding onto his glory days.  His son Jamie is his biggest disappointment.  Jamie both loves and hates his brother Edmund, who is sick with consumption and preparing to enter a sanitarium.  The most brutal of truths for all of them to face is that Mary, the matriarch of the family, is a morphine addict, overwhelmed by pain and regret, too far gone in denial to face the needs of her family.  Her line, “The past is the present… and it is also the future,” succinctly defines the despair in the hearts of all the characters.

Matthew Bears & Rory Keenan
Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Lesley Manville, as Mary Tyrone, brilliantly slingshots from denial into the present moment with dangerous urgency.  Her performance is heartbreaking and genuine.  Jeremy Irons dominates the stage, as the character of James Tyrone requires.  He pulls the others characters into cohesiveness, making strong demands and setting excessive expectations that push them over the edge.  Rory Keenan portrays Jamie as robust and reactionary.  Matthew Bears’ Edmond is deeply introspective and sensitive.  The scene between these brothers in the latter portion of the play is emotionally riveting and dramatically impactful.  It heightens the sense of solitude and isolation each character confronts on a daily basis.

Lesley Manville, Set Design by Rob Howell
Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Fast paced from the start, these actors embody the work of Eugene O’Neill for three hours and twenty minutes, unearthing heart wrenching layers of truth.  The set, designed by Rob Howell, has transparent walls that allow the action of each scene to be enveloped by the sunrise, the sunset, and eventually disappear into the fog.  Long Day’s Journey Into Night is playing at BAM Harvey Theater through May 27.   

Domenick Danza

Ghosts

Ghosts

Almeida Theatre and Sonia Freidman Productions

BAM Harvey Theatre

April 18, 2015

Photo courtesy of BAM Harvey Theatre,
Almeida Theatre & Sonia Freidman Productions

Ahh… Ibsen’s women.  There is no doubt that we can include Helene Alving from Ghosts in that specific category of female characters, alongside Hedda Gabbler and Nora Helmer (A Doll’s House), who risk their wealth and reputation by defying the strict social norm.  There is, however, a certain plunge that Mrs. Alving takes that seems deeper.  Perhaps it is the years of deceit that she has contributed to that makes her more equal to the men at the start of the play.  Perhaps it is how every choice she has made is purposefully decided so to prevent her husband’s sins from affecting her son.  Any way you look at it, the Almeida Theatre and Sonia Freidman Productions’ Ghosts, adapted and directed by Richard Eyre, makes a resilient statement on the inevitability of the ghosts of our past overwhelming our future.

Charlene McKenna and Lesley Manville in Ghosts
Photo courtesy of BAM Harvey Theatre,
Almeida Theatre & Sonia Freidman Productions

When the orphanage Helen Alving (Lesley Manville) donated in honor of her deceased husband is near completion, she reveals the truth about his drinking and womanizing to Pastor Manders (Will Keen).  The intrigue intensifies as they discuss their suppressed, deeper feelings for one another.  Pastor Manders speaks firmly about how the laws of society and the laws of God need to be more than merely perceived as followed.  This theme is put into conflict when juxtaposed against the kept secrets and reality of the characters’ truths.  Helene’s son, Oswald (Billy Howie), returns from Paris and flirts with their housekeeper Regina (Charlene McKenna).  Helene’s statement about how she is more afraid of the ghosts of her past than the retribution of laws of God is brought into a clear focus when she admits that Regina is the illegitimate daughter of her husband, and therefore Oswald’s half-sister.  The plot thickens in complexity, without being soap opera-ish, as only Ibsen can skillfully pull off (fires, blindness from venereal disease, and of course, what Ibsen play is complete without complications due to insurance matters).  The play left me speechless and in awe of concerted storytelling, an effective adaptation, sharp directing, and amazing acting.

Photo courtesy of BAM Harvey Theatre,
Almeida Theatre & Sonia Freidman Productions

The set, designed by Tim Hatley, is unique and simple.  In the foreground is the sitting room.   Through an opaque backdrop the audience is able to see the dining room.  Through another opaque backdrop more upstage, is the exterior of the house.  The design offered a view of each room simultaneously.  The audience sees what goes on behind closed doors, where secrets are kept, unintended for other characters to see or hear.  It also creates a sense of haunting when lit by lamplight.  Peter Mimford’s amazing lighting design sets a mellow and evocative mood, as well as creates a strong sense of the time period, before electric light.

Will Keen, Billy Howie, & Lesley Manville in Ghosts
Photo courtesy of BAM Harey Theatre, Almeida Theatre & Sonia Freidman Productions

When I took my seat and read in the program that the play was 90 minutes without intermission, I was surprised and did not know what to expect.  The Ibsen play is three acts, still this adaptation remarkably tells the penetrating story shadowed with years of remorse and secrets in a concentrated amount of time with a spectacular cast of five.  Kudos to Richard Eyre.  The production is here from London and runs at BAM Harvey Theatre through May 3.  Don’t miss it!

Domenick Danza