It's election night. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change.
Icke's visionary revival was nothing short of a sensation. Oedipus became an instant phenomenon and the highest-grossing limited-run production in Wyndham's history. It didn't just bring Greek tragedy back to the West End—it redefined it. This Oedipus played like a political thriller, gripping audiences in breathless suspense until its final, devastating moment.
It’s a shame, because this Oedipus, when it tries a little less hard, is also full of potency. Manville and Strong crackle together — their chemistry is steamy and genuine and, in some of the production’s best moments, after all terrible secrets have been revealed, so is their body-wracking devastation. These heights arrive at the crux of the breakless two-hour play, after Oedipus (Strong) has been engaged in his bullheaded pursuit of the truth for some time. (“Your honesty fetish is going to pull everything apart,” snarls one of his allies.) Here, Sophocles’s king is figured as a people’s politician, holed up at his campaign headquarters on election night with his family and key staff, awaiting news of what’s sure to be his landslide victory. (Elected to what? Icke never likes to get down to terms, but the implication is president or prime minister, with more than a splash of supreme leader.)
Like Teiresias, Merope understands that Oedipus’ world is about to implode — though Ickes smartly insures that no one character has the full picture of the family history until the elements leak out bit by bit. By the time that countdown clock hits zero, and the penny drops for both Oedipus and Jocasta, there is no turning back. The final scenes, as Strong and Manville wrestle with the full ramifications of their unwitting actions, unspool with a furious inevitability that is difficult to watch and impossible to look away. Ickes and his cast have achieved something truly remarkable, producing a classic that doesn’t feel like a revival at all. Oedipus may be the best play of the decade, and also the most contemporary.
| West End |
West End |
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| 2025 | West End |
West End |
| 2025 | Broadway |
Broadway |
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