Online programme

Oedipus Rex

Read the director’s note, synopsis, a translation of the libretto, more about the characters and full performance credits

Director's note  |  Synopsis  |  Libretto  |  The characters  |  Credits

Director's Note

Welcome to this world of rituals, Greek theatre, the creativity of Igor Stravinsky and the surrealism of Jean Cocteau, librettist of this extraordinary piece. In joining us tonight, you are playing an important role, transforming it into a living, breathing performance. Thank you for being here.

As you enter the museum gallery, you’ll see our principal characters, including Creon, Jocasta, Oedipus and Tiresias, as if they are permanent exhibits alongside the other objects in the gallery – the Buddha, the stag, the lighthouse. Feel free to weave amongst them. We have split the characters in this story into three societal groups: the Gods (who are mentioned in the original piece, but not usually seen on stage), Royals, and Society. You can stand upstairs and watch the story from on high like the Gods, or you can be inside the drama and mingle with the Society and the Royals on the ground floor. A full who’s who is below.

We have added upper voices to the chorus for this production – a first for this piece – bringing the female voice into a story where women have not traditionally had agency, both in the historical context of Ancient Greek theatre, where the actors were all male, and in the context of the opera itself, where the only female character Stravinsky uses is silenced by the men around her.

Our Speaker, who will guide you through the story tonight, is played as a cleaner in the museum. Much like Ben Stiller’s security guard in the 2006 film Night at the Museum, she watches the place come to life each night and invites us in because she wants to share the chaos, the blood and the drama. She is your key to following the story. The narration is in English, and the singing is in Latin. Stravinsky intended the music to wash over the audience but if you would like to follow along more closely, a copy of the libretto is available. Otherwise, please feel free to embrace Stravinsky and Cocteau’s storytelling style!

My advice is to be open and be curious. I hope this story provides you with a space for reflection and hope.

Roxana Haines, Director


Read more about the characters >>

Synopsis

Oedipus is a hero to Thebes after having defeated the Sphinx and wed the Theban Queen Jocasta. These happy times, however, have been cut short by a devastating plague. The citizens of Thebes implore King Oedipus for aid. Oedipus promises to save his people. Creon, Jocasta’s brother, brings word from the oracle at Delphi that the plague is punishment from the Gods for sheltering the murderer of Laius, Jocasta’s late husband and the former King of Thebes. Oedipus makes another vow to cast out this criminal. He calls on the soothsayer Tiresias to name the murderer, who says after much resistance that the former King’s killer is a King himself. Oedipus angrily accuses Tiresias of lying to promote Creon’s claim to the throne.

Jocasta arrives, calming the crowd with reassurances that oracles and soothsayers are not always trustworthy: an oracle predicted Laius’ death at the hands of his son, when Laius in fact ended up dying at the hands of bandits at a crossroads. Instead of calming Oedipus, this frightens him: before coming to Thebes, he remembers killing an old man where three roads met.

A messenger arrives to announce the death of King Polybus of Corinth, Oedipus’ father. He carries a letter that complicates matters further — Oedipus was found and raised by Polybus, but is not his son. A shepherd vouches for his story, saying he found Oedipus abandoned in the mountains. Jocasta flees the scene.

The truth is revealed: Oedipus is the son of Laius and Jocasta, killing his father and marrying his mother. Creon tells Oedipus that Jocasta has taken her life; Oedipus gouges out his own eyes with her pin before departing Thebes to wander the wilderness. The chorus’ horror gives way to grief as they mourn the loss of their King and Queen.

Libretto


Read the Oedipus Rex libretto and its English translation: