Black Tie Magazine, Dr Judy Kuriansky - Oedipus

The Greek tragedy of Oedipus
is a modern-day political thriller on Broadway:
See it now before the limited run ends

 The classic story of Oedipus – familiar to any psychologist like me and every high school student required to read the original Greek tragedy in English class – comes alive on the Broadway stage in the currently running play named “Oedipus.”

Oedipus kills his father and (unknowingly) marries his mother.

Never mind that you know what happens; watching it unfold in this modern-day interpretation is compelling and jaw-dropping.

In the adaptation by noted British playwright/director Robert Icke, the backdrop is not Thebes in 13th Century BC Greece, but a modern-day hotel suite on election night. Oedipus and his family are gathered in a room awaiting the results he’s sure to win (we’re not sure for what but possibly, as British Prime Minister).

The play explores themes common to ancient Greek and modern-day, like blinding power, truth versus lies, secrets uncovered, love and infidelity, family dynamics and painful self-discovery.

One depiction of love is positive. Oedipus is passionately in love with his wife, Jocasta.

Mark Strong (Oedipus) and Lesley Manville (Jocasta) Photo: Julieta Cervantes

The opening scene of the play is a video of a news conference where Oedipus declares to the cameras and assembled public that he will reveal two truths: his birth certificate (to refute claims of his foreign origin and thus, illegitimacy to run) as well as what really happened to cause the death of his predecessor, reputed as a heart attack.

The truth is torturous to see. Sight and blindness is repeatedly referred to in the play, culminating in one of the play's dramatic final scenes, where Oedipus, confronting the truth of his origin and marriage, gouges out his eyes. It’s a horror act of Shakespearean characters (in King Lear) and that I have seen in real life. A hospital patient of mine in the throes of a psychotic break and hearing the voice of God in July 4th firecrackers ordering him to atone for his sins, gouged out his eyes.

Countering Oedipus’ search for the truth, Jocasta declares, everyone lies, in politics and in every aspect of life.

The play’s tagline is emblazoned on the swag t-shirt sold in the lobby: “Truth is a Mother**ker”. The phrase is not just a swear but an allusion to sex with mother

Swag at the theatre with the yellow t-shirt with the truth slogan

Family gathering for a meal Photo: Julieta Cervantes

Mark Strong (Oedipus) and Lesley Manville (Jocasta) Photo: Julieta Cervantes

The denouement is one gasp after another. Jocasta puts pieces together to realize that the child wrested from her at birth and laid under a tree is her now-husband. A compelling finale that starts out as lovemaking but (as not everyone might realize) evolves into Jocasta slithering over Oedipus as if symbolically birthing him) and then exiting to a back room to the sound of a shot and splash of blood.

Allusions to global politics abound in the play. Icke himself was supposedly inspired by imagining Hillary Clinton in her hotel suite watching the 2016 election results. Oedipus’ promise to reveal his true birth recalls the challenges made about Obama. France’s Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron also had a May-December age gap like the younger Oedipus and older wife Jocasta. And, a tragic Chappaquiddick car accident enshrouds Ted Kennedy’s political career and causes Princess Diana’s death.

Full disclosure: I invested in the play, so I have a stake in its success, but its appeal to audiences is genuine (the play has a 90% approval rating). The most common accolade is the phenomenal performances of both main characters. The two Brits starred in the London West End run. They’re better known across the pond, so you wouldn’t expect such a powerful draw – like those afforded George Clooney for “Good Night, Good Luck” or Keanu Reeves in “Waiting for Godot” (the absurdist existential Samuel Beckett play).

I invested sight-unseen and not even “running the numbers”, having been swayed by a producer friend whose opinion I trust, who said it was the best play she ever saw.

Also, I was swayed by just the topic, as a major fan of Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, with its foundational concept of the Oedipus complex in the phallic stage of a young child’s development (around 5), characterized by the unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and rivalry/hostility toward the same-sex parent.

Having earned my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at NYU (the top program in the country at the time, with a decidedly analytic slant) and gone through required analysis (3 times a week on the couch) to earn my degree, I was a believer in the Freudian theory of child development. And later, as a couples counselor, I sourced many adult relationship problems to those early dynamics.

I had even gotten intrigued to major in psychology (rather than computers as my dad advised, or French as my mother dreamed) by the Freudian tripartite theory of the Id-Ego-Superego symbolized as a horse-drawn carriage, with the Id as the unbridled drive of the horse, the man as Ego driving it, and the Superego as the carriage holding all in check.

Forget the Freud-deniers. I had even seen the Oedipus Complex played out in front of my very eyes. When interviewing my friend for a feature report for WCBS-TV News, his 5-year old son suddenly swung his baseball bat and to our shock, declared, “I’m going to kill you daddy and marry mommy.”

The play even has classic “sibling rivalry” with Oedipus’ brother-in-law acting as his election advisor while really aspiring for his job. (I even suspected one allusion Jocasta makes that was suspicious of sibling attraction).

John Carroll Lynch as Creon, Oedipus’ advisor and Jocasta’s brother
Photo: Julieta Cervantes

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville on the red carpet at the afterparty

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