DHis first performance was 2446 years ago. The show was an absolute success: a nearly forgotten and pending murder case suddenly reopened. The king was murdered many years ago, but those people at the time seem strangely indifferent today. The investigators were stunned: even the victim’s widow accepted the fact that the murderer of her husband was at large. Does Iokaste know more than she said? But why does the queen keep silent?
Thoughtful, irritable, but determined and confident Steven Schaff walked up the ramp of the Bochum Theater and looked at the audience as if this ancient tragedy and the choir of King Thebes owed an answer. Like everyone else, he stood in the background of the stage, not a ruler, but a black silhouette in front of the bright red sky. On this extraordinary theater night, flocks of birds performed mysterious dances many times. : The pattern found the opponent, and then lost again. It is said that the priests knew how to read the will of the gods from it. But the priest was silent. Now, in front of the ramp, the investigator is persistently trying to find out for himself what the gods want from the people. He will not let anyone go, especially himself. That will be his great achievement. And his curse, his fate and his downfall.
Highly concentrated and intense
Sophocles’ “Oedipus King”, the epitome of tragedy and the perfect example, as a quiet, highly concentrated indoor drama on an almost empty stage? Has this happened before? With this intensity, with these resources? The director of the Bochum Theater, Johan Simons, uses lightweight, economical video recording, fascinating electronic music that can also teach people fear, and a great orchestra that is completely focused on text and trusts it. The new Bochum version of this work is called “Oedipus, Herrscher”, created by Elsie de Brauw, Mieke Koenen, and Susanne Winnacker. It is slender and supple, written in a language that knows how to maintain oneself: against the ancient, the present, and the sadness.
This version slowly and steadily changed the balance: from the factual investigation of the crime it started, to the approaching clarification of the disaster, from the queen Yokast, to the king Oedipus, who was her husband and her son. , The father and brother of their children, and the murderer who killed their father’s ex-husband. Then, in the end, very surprisingly, things changed again. The victim was rejected. This article is always about the fact that someone wants something and another person should sacrifice something for it.
First Iokaste speaks. Elsie de Brauw stood in front of the stage and reported the great suffering of Theben: fields withered, animals died, and people were desperate. Twenty years ago, it was the same. At this moment, a stranger appeared, solved the cruel sphinx mystery, liberated the city, and was rewarded by the queen who had just become a widow. Since then, Oedipus has ruled Thebes as a king.
Ancient court dramas that will last forever
Twenty years later, Oedipus sent his brother-in-law Creon to Delphi to consult the oracle. According to Creon, the plague will only pass after the death of the old king Raios has been atonerated. Oedipus immediately began to work, suspecting Creon had a conspiracy, questioning the servants and shepherds, and pressing the blind prophet Tricia until he finally accused the king of committing a crime against his will. He didn’t believe him because he had never seen Raios without knowing it. And now, Oedipus ruthlessly lists one evidence after another, revealing everything he doesn’t know: who he is and what he did.
The ancient court dramas are always new. Kleist has realized that if the judge knew from the beginning that he was the perpetrator, then the judge investigating his own crimes could change from a tragedy to a comedy. Just like the village judge Adam in “Broken Pot.” John Simmons has realized that in the judge who is continuing the investigation, although he suspects that he is the perpetrator, he not only has a sense of justice, but also has a touch of Colhas, that is, a touch of cruelty. From a happy ruler who wanted to save the people and the city from suffering, Steven Schaff turned himself into a fanatic of justice and self-knowledge, and this knowledge penetrated and destroyed him. Oedipus decayed. When the last question was resolved, Steven Schaff stood motionless, stretched his arms a little, and turned his palms forward to let his eyeballs wander back, before closing his eyelids. Well, when we have a certain understanding of the truth, a blind man stands in front of us. Then the stage darkened again, and the musician and composer Lukas Tobiassen (Lukas Tobiassen), who was sitting on the right side of the stage during the entire performance, once again sounded the electronic siren and chanted by Eriniès, and Oedipus once again moved from Appears from the depths of the stage: Now the eyes are cut out, the face is bloody, and the body is twitching and trembling. When it wants to figure out who it is and what it has done, it mutters as if it has lost its reason. Iokaste committed suicide in Sophocles. For Simmons, she refused to make sacrifices. Elsie de Brauw plays the Queen of Thebes like a CEO: he has a strong desire for control, is strategically smart, and is confident even in handling his own abyss. Because she loves Oedipus, man, son, murderer. But she prefers other things.
