Oedipus the King by Sophocles was the second stage reading I have attended at Baruch College. The last stage reading I attended was called “Shakuntala”, and I went to the stage reading for my theatre class. The stage reading of Oedipus the King was much simpler than the stage reading I attended of “Shakuntala”, but the actors in Oedipus the King did a great job of portraying the different characters. The actors were able to act with a lot of emotion while reading off their scripts, which made the play more enjoyable for me to watch. I liked how the actors “broke the third wall”, and entered scenes from the back of the theatre, which helped keep my interest. I also liked how there was a simple back drop (pictured below) to add to the setting.
After watching the stage reading of the play, I felt bad for Oedipus from the beginning. I can only imagine how painful it could be, to grow up as an orphan, and then for there to be a prophecy of you killing your father and marrying your mother, while not even knowing who they even are. All I could think about was how there really wasn’t much Oedipus could have done to prevent his destiny. I actually found it pretty ironic how the harder Oedipus tried to avoid his destiny, the more likely it was to occur. There just wasn’t any way that Oedipus was able to avoid his ultimate destiny from coming true.
Considering that the stage reading was the first time I have ever heard of the story of Oedipus the King, I found it really intense how the story ends. I didn’t really know what to expect during the stage reading, and had no idea how the play could possibly end, but I did not expect the play to end the way it did, in such tragedy. When Oedipus enters to see that the Queen had commit suicide, and Oedipus immediately tortures himself and removes his own eyes, and then begs Creon to kill him. I was not expecting such a tragic ending. My overall feeling of the Stage reading was that it was enjoyable, and well executed, and helped me understand the story in only an hour which was pleasant.
Sam,
Thanks for your comments. I had been hoping that someone would see the play without having any prior knowledge of the story. I’m curious to know at what point you became aware that Oedipus was the one who had killed the king/his father and that he had indeed married his mother. I’m pretty sure that we know this before Oedipus himself realizes the truth. You make a great observation when you suggest that Oedipus’ efforts to avoid his fate ironically seem only to bring him closer to that fate. I think this is part of Sophocles’ core message about the futility of believing that we can control our fates.
JS