Review by Julia Pirie
There is something spine-tingling about attending a performance of a play which premiered 2,500 years ago. I had never seen Oedipus but knew of the harrowing tale of human blindness and divine insouciance.
This adaptation (written and directed by Steven Berkoff) delivers Sophocles’s story in a vigorously contemporary way. Using a mixture of iambic pentameter and everyday prose (slang some might say) the characters talk to us across the years.
Although there wasn’t much for Vincenzo Nicoli to make of Creon, Simon Merrells gave an energetic performance as Oedipus. He delivered the mixture of verse and prose with energy and relished his scenes with the Chorus. Louise Jameson seemed less comfortable in Jocastra’s skin.
The laurels go to the Chorus. On stage most of the time, eight actors worked together and separately as storyteller and audience, judge and jury. They narrated, commented, challenged, heckled, cringed, and cajoled. At first I found this irritating, but as I became used to it and saw how skillfully choreographed it was, I was impressed.
Some haunting accordion music (played and composed by John Chambers) suggested something deeper in the royal couple’s predicament and hinted at the pity and terror. Otherwise Berkoff kept our feelings at bay. My student companion loved it: I left the theatre exhausted by the action but not much moved by the tragedy.
