Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 25: Samooh Theatre’s three-day classic theater festival, true to its title Classic 3, opened with Oedipus Rex, a classic example of the genre of tragedy written by Greek playwright Sophocles in 5th BCE, at the Abhinav Theatre, here, today.
Reflecting upon the serious practice of modern theater in the winter capital, the amateur actors, mostly young and many greenhorns, came out with a captivating performance in which one witnessed a slow and steady building up of tempo along with a sense of impending tragedy.
The plot revolves around King Oedipus of Thebes, who is informed that the mysterious plague which has struck the city will only be lifted if the killer of the former king, Laius, is brought to justice. King’s queen, Jocasta doesn’t believe Tiresias when he says Oedipus is the murderer. Once, an oracle told her that her husband would be killed by their child, and because (she thinks) that hasn’t come true, she doesn’t believe Tiresias.
To prevent her child from killing her husband, Jocasta had left the baby to die on the side of the road. Oedipus suspects that he was that abandoned baby. When he first came to Thebes, he had met and killed a man on the road who turned out to be Lauis, his father. He then met and married the widowed Jocasta, his own mother and sired children out of the wedlock. A messenger and a servant confirm the tale. Jocasta hangs herself out of shame. Oedipus discovers her body and uses the pins of her brooches to stab out his own eyes.
Ravinder Sharma, the young director of the play, should be credited with mounting a production that avoiding grand sets, did succeed in creating the feel of a central entrance, symbolic of the royal quarters, while other character entered and exited from sides. Well thought light design that accentuated the emotions and appropriately designed costumes succeeded in creating the feel of the period (Greek).
Tomorrow, Shakespeare’s Hamlet will be performed.
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