B'way/Off-B'way Review: Oedipus; Archduke

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in Oedipus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

The countdown clock in Hildegard Bechtler’s sterile set for Robert Icke’s explosively dramatic adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus was ticking down to the final minutes and I was having trouble breathing. Even though the shattering conclusion of incest and destruction is well known to the civilized world, Icke’s modern version of the classic Greek tragedy is so perfectly paced and infused with such suspense, the tension was palpable. The prideful Oedipus (a dynamic Mark Strong) is about to find out his true identity. The revelation will destroy his burgeoning political career, his family, his very essence, and erase his hubristic pride. The next few moments are a stunning coup de theater in the Broadway season’s most stunning dramatic presentation.

Now at Studio 54, produced in association with Roundabout Theater Company after an Olivier Award-winning run in London, Oedipus is everything theater should be—thought-provoking, emotionally stirring and empathy-evoking. Icke’s adaptation is smart, relevant and eloquently addresses issues afflicting our contemporary body politic. His direction is flawless, skillfully and slowly building the anxiety till the inexorable finale. The placement of that large clock marking the minutes and seconds to the end, and Tom Gibbons’ eerie sound design add to the stress. Strong and Lesley Manville, painstakingly documenting the gradual crumbling of the colossal egos of Oedipus and his wife Jocasta, lead a magnificent cast, each clearly delineating their part in the hero’s downfall and their reactions.  

Mark Strong and Samuel Brewer in Oedipus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Icke whose previous transatlantic triumphs have included a masterful Hamlet and Oresteia as well as an updated version of an obscure Arthur Schnitzler play called The Doctor, has transformed Oedipus from an ancient Greek king into a 2025 progressive political candidate on the cusp of winning an decisive elective victory. We open with a giant video screen (Tal Yarden designed the CNN-style videos) depicting Oedipus’ campaign vows to reform a corrupt government, sounding much like NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and promising to release his birth certificate, recalling Barack Obama.  

The screen raises and we are in campaign headquarters as the election results are pouring in. Oedipus’ mother Merope (stern and mysterious Anne Reid) urgently requests private time with her son. (We all know where that’s headed.) Meanwhile, Oedipus receives ominous warnings from the blind seer Teiresias (intense Samuel Brewer) that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother. As the protagonist attempts to ferret out the meaning of this riddle, we learn this contemporary Oedipus wants to reform the future. Strong makes Oedipus a complex figure. He revels in the hero’s robust ambitions, but also exposes his tender side. Oedipus compassionately accepts a gay son, promises better living conditions for his constituents, and loves his family. But Icke stresses Sophocles’ theme that the past can determine destiny. 

Directors Double--and Triple--Dip

Scott Ellis is one of three directors
 to have more than one show on Broadway this season

A former editor of mine used to say "Three times and it's a trend." So we officially have a new Broadway trend: directors having more than one show on in the same season. Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County, Of Mice and Men) staged the revival of This Is Our Youth which opened last night at the Cort to great reviews (here's my review roundup for NewYork.com) and will be helming Larry David's new comedy Fish in the Dark. Youth premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company earlier this year so Shapiro has time to start planning for the Larry David piece. Pam McKinnon won a Tony for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and gives her spin to the playwright's A Delicate Balance. She'll also be directing another revival this spring: Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles. Scott Ellis is staging You Can't Take It With You and The Elephant Man this fall, which played the Williamstown Theatre Festival two summers ago so Ellis had breathing room to work on the Kaufman and Hart classic starring James Earl Jones, Rose Bryne, Elizabeth Ashley and the always-hilarious Kristine Nielsen and Julie Halston. Ellis will be pulling triple duty this season since he'll also be directing Roundabout's revival of On the Twentieth Century opening in January 2015. It will be interesting to see who gets nominated for Tonys and for which show and if anyone will be competing against him or herself.

Tony Eligibility Ruling Reaction

Kristine Nielsen, left, is definitely a leading lady in
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Credit: T. Charles Erickson

Just five days before the Tony nominations are announced, the Tony Administration Committee met and made its final ruling as to who's eligible in which category. To paraphrase Charles Dickens (or the 1950s movie version of A Christmas Carol), the reaction from the theater blogosphere has resembled a chorus of scalded cats. The two biggest causes for brouhaha concern are the four young actresses playing the title role in Matilda and the status of Kristine Nielsen of Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. The talented quartet of little girls who alternate as Roald Dahl's spunky genius were ruled ineligible for Best Actress in a Musical and will be awarded a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater. All that is very fine, but it breaks precedence with the Billy Elliot boys. The three young men who alternated in that role were considered eligible as a single, joint nominee for Best Actor in a Musical, and won. What's the difference here? It is because there are four as opposed to three? Or perhaps the Matilda producers did not want to have to give Tony voters free tickets on four separate occasions and lose all that income? This happens with the Tonys all the time. Unlike the Supreme Court, they do not abide by previous cases. There have been plenty of times when actors has been considered leading AND featured for the same role--Zena Walker and Stockard Channing both played the same part in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. But Walker won a Featured Tony and Channing triumphed in the leading category when the play was revived. same with Joel Grey and Alan Cumming in Cabaret.