Studio 54,<\/a> \u201cOedipus\u201d arrives as the fall season\u2019s prestige import from abroad, bringing with it an imposing cast led by Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. It\u2019s sharply acted and conceptually ambitious. But the extended pacing dilutes the speed and compression that define Sophocles\u2019 original.<\/p>\nThe result is an evening that begins with real promise and striking immediacy before settling into something more deliberate, even as it inches toward revelations the audience knows are coming.
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/292_The-Cast-of-OEDIPUS_Photo-by-Julieta-Cervantes.jpg\" "\\"Review")
The cast of Studio 54\u2019s production of \u201cOedipus\u201dPhoto by Julieta Cervantes\/Provided\n<\/p>\n
The adaptation relocates Sophocles\u2019 tragedy to election night in a generic Western democracy that looks vaguely British. It opens with a filmed press conference in which Oedipus (Mark Strong), once an outsider now poised for a landslide victory, vows full transparency: he will release his birth certificate and reopen the long-closed investigation into the death of his predecessor, Laius. It\u2019s an updated spin on the ancient inciting actions that set him on a collision course with truths he is unprepared to face.<\/p>\n
Once the curtain rises, a sleek, sterile campaign headquarters becomes the single setting for the play\u2019s unfolding. Staffers, family members, and uneasy bystanders drift through the room as an onstage digital clock ticks down the minutes to when the election results will be announced. This staging creates early tension, but the constant visibility of the clock soon dominates the experience, making the play feel longer and slower than its two hours and ten minutes already suggest.<\/p>\n
Figures from Sophocles appear here with modern inflections. Teiresias, the blind prophet who traditionally arrives to warn Oedipus of the awful truth, is now a young, strange visitor (Samuel Brewer), whose cryptic pronouncements are dismissed as the ramblings of an unstable intruder.<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/202_John-Carroll-Lynch-in-OEDIPUS_Photo-by-Julieta-Cervantes.jpg\" "\\"Review")
Creon (John Carroll Lynch), Oedipus\u2019 brother-in-law, is rewritten as his exasperated campaign strategist. Jocasta (Manville), Oedipus\u2019 wife and Laius\u2019 widow, is not merely a queen but a veteran political spouse, polished, charming, and practiced at managing a husband whose impulses can swing from noble to reckless.Photo by Julieta Cervantes\/Provided<\/p>\n
Creon (John Carroll Lynch), Oedipus\u2019 brother-in-law, is rewritten as his exasperated campaign strategist. Jocasta (Manville), Oedipus\u2019 wife and Laius\u2019 widow, is not merely a queen but a veteran political spouse, polished, charming, and practiced at managing a husband whose impulses can swing from noble to reckless.<\/p>\n
The adaptation contains hints of the rest of the Theban cycle: Oedipus\u2019 three grown children \u2014 Antigone (Olivia Reis), Polyneices (James Wilbraham), and Eteocles (Jordan Scowen) \u2014 each embody the tensions and rivalries that will dominate the later myths. Their inclusion deepens the family dynamic but also stretches the narrative away from the austere focus that makes Sophocles\u2019 play so concentrated.<\/p>\n
Manville stands out among the strong ensemble, charting her character\u2019s gradual descent into terror with emotional precision that remains captivating even when the script becomes repetitive. Strong gives a steely performance as a man convinced he can manage any crisis until he discovers the one truth he cannot outrun. His scenes with Manville, particularly late in the evening as the final pieces lock into place, contain the rawest energy of the production.<\/p>\n
What the adaptation reflects about today\u2019s political world is sometimes revealing and sometimes murky. The notion that a leader\u2019s image rests on a story they tell about themselves \u2014 and that truth, once uncovered, can collapse the entire fa\u00e7ade \u2014 resonates strongly. Yet the production keeps contemporary parallels at arm\u2019s length, preferring the atmosphere of a political thriller to a more thorough examination of modern power.<\/p>\n
Still, there\u2019s no denying the quality of the performances or the clarity of Icke\u2019s concept. The revelations land exactly where expected, and the final moments achieve a grim inevitability. But for a tragedy built on speed, shock, and the brutal economy of fate, this \u201cOedipus\u201d ultimately takes its time \u2014 and the audience not only feels every passing minute but sees it flashing on the countdown clock.<\/p>\n
Studio 54, 254 W. 54th\u00a0St.,\u00a0oedipustheplay.com<\/a>. Through Feb. 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mommy issues: Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in Studio 54\u2019s production of \u201cOedipus.\u201d Photo by Julieta Cervantes\/Provided Spoiler…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":415284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,194814,194815,81245,194816,194817,181345,194373,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,181338,194818,181339,181340,194819,194820,194821,194822,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-415283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-contemporary-adaptation","10":"tag-election-night-setting","11":"tag-family-drama","12":"tag-greek-tragedy","13":"tag-lesley-manville","14":"tag-mark-strong","15":"tag-modern-theater","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-oedipus","23":"tag-political-thriller","24":"tag-robert-icke","25":"tag-sophocles","26":"tag-stage-performance","27":"tag-studio-54","28":"tag-theatrical-review","29":"tag-theban-cycle","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115639298378214619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/822_Mark-Strong-Lesley-Manville-in-OEDIPUS_Photo-by-Julieta-Cervantes.jpg\" "\\"Review")
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