"But in Robert Icke's contemporary adaptation of the 2,400-year-old Greek tragedy, the real surprise is how long it takes to get there. Now at Studio 54, Oedipus arrives as the fall season's prestige import from abroad, bringing with it an imposing cast led by Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. It's sharply acted and conceptually ambitious. But the extended pacing dilutes the speed and compression that define Sophocles' original."
"It opens with a filmed press conference in which Oedipus (Mark Strong), once an outsider now poised for a landslide victory, vows full transparency: he will release his birth certificate and reopen the long-closed investigation into the death of his predecessor, Laius. It's an updated spin on the ancient inciting actions that set him on a collision course with truths he is unprepared to face."
Robert Icke relocates Sophocles' Oedipus to election night in a vague Western democracy and stages the action in a sleek campaign headquarters. Oedipus, played by Mark Strong, vows transparency and reopens the investigation into Laius while an onstage digital clock counts down election results. The production features a high-profile cast including Lesley Manville and emphasizes modern political inflections and media framing. The staging creates early tension and striking immediacy, but prolonged pacing and the dominating presence of the clock dilute the compression and urgency central to the original tragedy. Performances remain sharp and the adaptation is conceptually ambitious despite its deliberate tempo.
Read at www.amny.com
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