Oedipus - Don Taylor Adaption
Place yourself back in to the times of Greek tragedy and culture, the glorious palace doors overlooking the Kingdom and the elegant, admirable robes. Here you will find the setting of “Oedipus the King” written by Sophocles, adapted in 1986 by Don Taylor. Taylor adapts this version extremely well, highlighting the main themes and significant symbolising Sophocles would have used in the play outstandingly. Also he still keeps the reflection of the Greek culture of the play too.
Like all Greek tragedies Oedipus is set around only one setting, here it’s outside the Kingdom where the citizens of Thebes and the chorus of the Theban councillors all gather in hope of Oedipus’s wisdom. The stage is set out in a fixed stage, with the kingdom stage left and the entrance of visitors from outside the Kingdom stage right reflecting upon status in the play. At the beginning the citizens all gather from around the palace, each group of citizens seem to be symbolising a significant decade in the past where something incredibly devastating as happened. They show this in their weak movement and aged costumes. However they are complied by a priest who seems to be leading them to the Palace, it’s a very tragic scene as we emotionally feel the negativity of the citizens in the Kingdom, aurally we hear a very obscure in some ways frightening music that adds to the mysteriousness. As well as the darkness and misty setting we visually find ourselves in, symbolising morning.
Suddenly theirs a change in tone, the frightening loud sound of a Gong is presented, and a light starts to gleam in. This is the first sighting we see of Oedipus played by Michaela Pennington, the gong is always used to signify his exaggerated entrance and the contrast in lighting from the beginning could be seen as the sun raising symbolising Oedipus awakening from the palace for his ‘grand entrance’. When he does appear we also see the contrast of colours visually, he enters such a gloomy setting dressed in white
Like all Greek tragedies Oedipus is set around only one setting, here it’s outside the Kingdom where the citizens of Thebes and the chorus of the Theban councillors all gather in hope of Oedipus’s wisdom. The stage is set out in a fixed stage, with the kingdom stage left and the entrance of visitors from outside the Kingdom stage right reflecting upon status in the play. At the beginning the citizens all gather from around the palace, each group of citizens seem to be symbolising a significant decade in the past where something incredibly devastating as happened. They show this in their weak movement and aged costumes. However they are complied by a priest who seems to be leading them to the Palace, it’s a very tragic scene as we emotionally feel the negativity of the citizens in the Kingdom, aurally we hear a very obscure in some ways frightening music that adds to the mysteriousness. As well as the darkness and misty setting we visually find ourselves in, symbolising morning.
Suddenly theirs a change in tone, the frightening loud sound of a Gong is presented, and a light starts to gleam in. This is the first sighting we see of Oedipus played by Michaela Pennington, the gong is always used to signify his exaggerated entrance and the contrast in lighting from the beginning could be seen as the sun raising symbolising Oedipus awakening from the palace for his ‘grand entrance’. When he does appear we also see the contrast of colours visually, he enters such a gloomy setting dressed in white