Oedipus at Colonus: #aftersophocles
Title
Oedipus at Colonus: #aftersophocles
Description
This is a play about time, aging, and dying. It was written by Sophocles at the end of his life when he was an old man facing his own death. It is the third play in the so-called Theban cycle, the first being Oedipus Rex, the second being Antigone and this being the third. However, in terms of the chronology of the Theban narrative, the action of the play precedes the action of Antigone.
It is also a play about the land and belonging to the land, or more precisely, a desperate desire to belong to the land. In this way the play, written in the 5th century BC, has immense relevance for our contemporary postcolonial, post-apartheid context in which issues of land hunger, of dispossession, of occupations and removals, continue to plague our society so many years after the advent of democracy.
It is also a play about the limits of redemption and forgiveness. It poses a question as to whether the wrongs of the past can ever really be forgiven. Is there a possibility for penance? Is Oedipus’ tearing out of his eyes enough? At one point in the play the chorus pronounce: “There may be healing of past wrongs but no undoing them”. Can the polluted figure from the past ever be accepted in the present and what are the consequences of the polluted body being inserted into the land after death? Consequences for the land and for the people who live on that land.
Sophocles text is translated by Oliver Taplin, with permission of Oxford University Press.
It is also a play about the land and belonging to the land, or more precisely, a desperate desire to belong to the land. In this way the play, written in the 5th century BC, has immense relevance for our contemporary postcolonial, post-apartheid context in which issues of land hunger, of dispossession, of occupations and removals, continue to plague our society so many years after the advent of democracy.
It is also a play about the limits of redemption and forgiveness. It poses a question as to whether the wrongs of the past can ever really be forgiven. Is there a possibility for penance? Is Oedipus’ tearing out of his eyes enough? At one point in the play the chorus pronounce: “There may be healing of past wrongs but no undoing them”. Can the polluted figure from the past ever be accepted in the present and what are the consequences of the polluted body being inserted into the land after death? Consequences for the land and for the people who live on that land.
Sophocles text is translated by Oliver Taplin, with permission of Oxford University Press.
Run-Iteration Number
0
Genre
Tragedy
South African Adaptation
Proficiency Level
Professional
Performance Run Type
Theatre Run
CTDPS Production Type
Research Based Production
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Production Type
Independent
Script Type
Adapted
Devised
Audience
Adult
Rehearsal Date
2022-10-31 - 2023-01-31
Rehearsal Venue
UCT Upper Campus Dance Studio
Year Created
2023
Opening Date
2023-01-03
Closing Date
2023-01-18
Start Time
19h30
14h30 (Saturday matinees)
Performance Venue
Geographic Location of Performance
Cape Town
Producer
Magnet Theatre
Baxter Theatre
ReTAGS
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
Director
Text By
Translator
Oliver Taplin
Performers
Musical Director
Choreographer
Stage Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Digital Designer
Daniel Manners
