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Public produces compelling 'Oedipus' update
Oedipus the King
Jasmine Gehris/Tribune-Review
When: Through Oct. 29. Performances: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays and Oct. 14, 21 and 28.
Admission: $33.50-$52.50, $12.50 for age 26 or younger.
Where: O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown.
Details: 412-431-1600 or Alice T. Carter is the theater critic for the Tribune-Review. She can be reached via e-mail or 412-320-7808.
If so, it's one with an interesting twist.
The question is not whodunit.
Those of us watching almost certainly know already.
The interest is in watching the murderer find out he's the guilty party.
Delivered in a taut, swiftly moving, intermissionless 70-minute production, the Pittsburgh Public Theater's season opening production of Sophocles' 2,400-year-old tragedy continues to entertain and compel our interest to the inevitable.
Director Pappas and his design team -- costume designer David R. Zyla, scenic designer James Noone, lighting designer Kirk Bookman and sound designer Zach Moore -- move the tale into a contemporary setting embellished with elements of classical Greek architecture.
The predominantly male cast is garbed for the most part in dark and elegant business suits worthy of successful politicians or captains of industry. But Zyla incorporates touches and textures that link the production to its ancient Greek roots.
The palace's huge double doors, a worthy entrance for a prosperous bank or conservative international corporation, are strangely surrounded by a shiny black facade and flanked by banks of stage lighting. The palace's forecourt holds a small ceremonial fire pit enclosed by smooth rocks.
At times, the red lighting that washes across the marble and some of the snippets of sound are a bit hyperactive and melodramatic as they point up pivotal moments.
Pappas casts the audience in the role of townspeople that Oedipus and other characters address throughout the show.
It's an interesting, double-sided experience.
On the one hand, we onlookers are concerned suppliants looking for relief from the series of mishaps and disasters that have recently befallen our community.
On the other hand, we can't help but feel a bit like all-knowing gods.
Unlike those onstage, we already know that Oedipus has angered the gods by unwittingly fulfilling the prophecy that he would murder his father and marry his mother.
We revel smugly in our appreciation for the irony of Oedipus' hubris as he promises to bring to justice the evildoer who murdered the king. We're way ahead of him in knowing how to lift the curse that oppresses the kingdom.
Simultaneously Oedipus' downfall serves as an object lesson in the dangers of failing to see what's so painfully obvious or assuming we can outwit the fates.
Jay Stratton's Oedipus is so confident of his moral correctness and point of view you savor his approaching downfall.
To his peril, he ignores the clear -- to us -- warnings and explanations delivered by Edward James Hyland's prophet Tiresias and Michael McKenzie's thoughtful Creon.
Our foreknowledge also frees us up to watch as the truth dawns on other characters. It's particularly interesting to watch Helena Ruoti's Queen Jocasta as the horror of the situation becomes clear to her.
Enhancing the immediacy and clarity of the drama is William Butler Yeats' poetic translation that's filled with imagery while feeling as up-to-date as the evening news.
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