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

A View from the Bridge

A View from the Bridge

The Young Vic Production

The Lyceum Theatre

October 24, 2015

Photo courtesy of
A View from the Bridge

This past spring my colleague and fellow blogger, Deirdre DeLoatch, wrote about her theatre trip to England.  “Experiencing the Heart and Culture of London” was posted on this blog on March 20, 2015.  She raved to me about the Young Vic’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and how it was destined for a Broadway run.  That production is presently in previews at the Lyceum Theatre with and opening date scheduled for November 12.  It far exceeds the high expectation that Deirdre setup for me.  Director Ivo Van Hove’s bare bones production revels in the richness of Arthur Miller’s text and makes relevant this impassioned story of family, love, and hubris.

The play takes place in the 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman and son of an Italian immigrant, opens his home to two of his wife’s cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, who are illegally entering the country to work and send money home to their impoverished family.  At the same time, Eddie’s niece Catherine, who he and his wife Bea raised since childhood after the death of her parents, is coming of age and ready to move forward with her adult life.  When Rodolpho begins romancing Catherine, Eddie is forced to face his true feelings for his niece and Bea faces her biggest fear.

Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The starkness of the production makes clear the skillful structure of Arthur Miller’s play.  Just when he brings the conflict to a high point and you think resolution is ahead, he delves deeper into what is driving each character so we questions what is right and what is truth.  No playwright writes the tragic fall of the American hero like Arthur Miller.  When Eddie Carbone screams, “He took my name… I want my name back,” he echoes John Proctor in The Crucible and Peter Stockman from his adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.  Once the truth is told, there is no going back.  When Eddie lunges at Marco in the final scene after his wife Bea finally confronts the truth of his desire, it is similar to the tragic ending of All My Sons.

Phoebe Fox, Mark Strong, & Nicola Walker
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

Although physically not cast to type, the actors make Miller’s dialogue ring with vitality and inspired dramatic action.  Mark Strong is audaciously authentic as Eddie Carbone. His is equally matched by Nicola Walker as his wife Bea.  She has honest moments that reveal her true feelings and realistic fears that propel the action of the play forward.  Michael Gould is a grounding force as Alfieri, who carefully and deliberately steps into the action of the play and accepts his role in the outcome.  Phoebe Fox and Russel Tovey, as Catherine and Rodolpho, change and grow as they face their obstacles in order to achieve their dreams.

Russel Tovey, Phoebe Fox, and Mark Strong
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The set, by Jan Versweyveld, is a designated square box with a single entrance up stage center.  There are no props and no interior or exterior settings.   The playing area is like a boxing ring with audience seating stage right and left, creating a three quarter stage setting.  Other powerful director/designer choices are the fact that all the characters, except for Alfieri before he steps into the playing area, are barefoot.  Also, the shower in the opening and closing make a strong, effective, awe-inspiring statement.  I will not go into detail about these images so you can feel the full impact when you see it… and you MUST.

This production sheds a new light on this American classic by stripping it down and engaging the audience in the beauty, rhythm, and directness of Arthur Miller’s words.  The play runs under two hours without an intermission, and is scheduled for a limited run of seventeen weeks.  It is an impactful work.  Be sure to see it. 

Domenick Danza