Photography: Tassou Amerikanos
Oedipus and Antigonê
by Sophocles
Translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald
Adapted and directed by Kelly Wilson
28-31 October, 2020
Earl Arts Centre, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Performance rights by permission of The Estate of Robert Fitzgerald
Cast (in order of appearance):
JOCASTA, wife of Oedipus / Antigone Chorus 5....................................................................Janice Molineux
OEDIPUS, doctor and leader of Thebes / Antigonê Chorus 1.....................................................Eliot McCann
CREONA, sister of Jocasta, mother of Haimon, career politician...................................................Fiona Reilly
Oedipus Chorus 1 / ANTIGONÊ, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta...................................Olivia Brodzinski
Oedipus Chorus 2-PERSONAL ASSISTANT, secretary for Creona.......................................Phoebe Wheatley
Oedipus Chorus 3 / ISMENÊ, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta.....................................................Lena Reilly
Oedipus & Antigonê Chorus 4 / MESSENGER / ETEOCLÊS, son of Oedipus and Jocasta..........Kevin Vong
Oedipus Chorus 5-SENTRY, a security guard......................................................................................Lee Brient
Oedipus Chorus 6-HAIMON, son of Creona............................................................................Nathaniel Wood
TEIRESIAS, a blind seer..........................................................................................................................David Lee
PROBATE LAWYER / POLYNEICÊS, son of Oedipus and Jocasta / Antigonê Chorus 3......Robbie Bleakley
CHAUFFEUR / MESSENGER 2 & Antigonê Chorus 2......................................................................Jan Gluszyk
Directorial Interpretation:
In this production, the narrative action, which originally took place in ancient Greece, is advanced to the year 2050. Thebes is now a modern city recovering from the verge of annihilation. King Oedipus has been transformed into a doctor who has been a compassionate and fair leader of Thebes since he arrived twenty years ago, during the bio-terrorist attack by the perpetrator known as ‘The Sphinx’, responsible for the pandemic of 2030 that Oedipus eradicated. In a desperate hope to maintain health and prosperity in their community, the Theban people have resumed their worship of the gods of ancient Greece. Jocasta assists her husband Oedipus in running a doctor’s surgery from an annex of their own home as they work to continue Thebes’ recovery.
However, it seems there has been another outbreak of plague: crops are failing, cattle are sick, babies are stillborn and people are dying from unknown causes. Dr. Oedipus calls upon the blind seer, Teiresias, to discover the cause of the pestilence and to determine what the gods would have them do in order to survive. When Teiresias finally meets with Oedipus, his prophesy sets in motion a series of events that will forever change the lives of his wife, Jocasta; his sister-in-law, Creona; his nephew, Haimon; and his children, Polyneicês, Eteoclês, Ismenê and Antigonê.
This contemporary adaptation of Oedipus and Antigonê retains Sophocles’ text, as translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, while editing and transforming the script to create a modern exploration of some of the big questions that still plague us today. This production has also transformed some of Sophocles’ choral odes and text into lyrics for original music, which reintroduces the musical element of the original performances of ancient Greek tragedy and allows the dramatic action to be heightened through song.
This performance is notable in its reimagining of Oedipus as a doctor and its portrayal of Creon as a woman, known as Creona, played by the same actor in both Oedipus and Antigonê. The audience witnesses the agony that befalls a well-meaning, yet naïve, doctor who assumes that the cause of his city’s suffering has nothing to do with himself. Likewise, Creona, a career politician, leads Thebes with the best of intentions, but her decisions and actions demonstrate the pride and misplaced idealism that parallels the problems that plague politics today. As the result of these adaptations, the thematic content of the production produces a chilling modern significance.