"Oedipus in Colon": author, plot, characters, date and history of creation, modern productions, reviews of critics and viewers

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The name of Sophocles in ancient Greek literature is on a par with such great authors of their time as Aeschylus and Euripides. But unlike, for example, Aeschylus, Sophocles in his tragedies spoke about living people, depicting the real feelings of the heroes, he conveyed the inner world of a person as he really was.

Sophocles filled his tragedies with human thoughts and experiences, and not with the external attributes and life of the gods. Man in the tragedies of Sophocles occupies a central place. Erroneous, imperfect, erring, but real, just such a person appears in the works of Sophocles "Hippolytus", "Oedipus Rex", "Oedipus Rex in Colon" and other tragedies.

About the personality of Sophocles

Sophocles was born near Athens, in the village of Kolon. This place is famous for the altars and altars dedicated to Athena, Demeter and Poseidon. The action of one of the tragedies that has come down to us, "Oedipus in Colon", Sophocles transfers to his hometown.

He comes from a we althy family who gave himexcellent education. Sophocles was twice elected military commander of Athens and a member of the council for the allocation of the treasury for various needs.

The most important goal in life was writing tragedies for the theater of the city of Athens. He competed with Aeschylus on the Athenian stage in the production of plays, and his first tragedies won a confident and unconditional victory over Aeschylus.

Sophocles wrote 123 tragedies, but only seven of his creations have come down to us:

• Oedipus Rex;
• "Oedipus in Colon";
• Antigone;
• "Trachinyanki";
• Ajax;
• Electra;
• Philoctetes.

Sophocles, according to Cephalus ("The State", Plato), had a good character, was sociable and liked to joke, did not disdain entertainment, wine and other fun. Was friends with Herodotus.

Lived a long life and died at 90. Buried in Athens. The inhabitants of the city erected an altar in his honor and once a year glorified Sophocles, including him among the heroes.

Creativity of Sophocles

Sophocles introduced a number of innovations in the stage production. Three actors began to play in the tragedy, and not two, as it was before. I increased the composition of the choir to 15 people, updated the scenery, slightly modified the masks. Another achievement of Sophocles is the reduction of the role of the choir in tragedies. This was done in order to give the actors more time to reveal the thoughts and image of the character. These innovations made it possible to keep the viewer in constant tension during the performance.

Characteristic features of Sophocles' creativity:

• collide heroes who have different visions of life orpolitical structure (Oedipus and Creon);
• heroes can have the same views, but completely opposite characters;
• Sophocles skillfully conveys the mood of the characters: first there is a rise in strength, and then lethargy or helplessness, for example, the image of Oedipus;
• dynamic dialogues, active action;
• heroes are natural, circumstances are as close as possible to real life;
• man has the right to choose his own fate, and does not depend on the gods; they can only evaluate the actions of a person, and then punish or reward a mortal.

The plot of the tragedy "Oedipus in Colon"

The tragedy is a continuation of the story of Oedipus the King. "Oedipus at Colon" was staged in 401 BC, when Sophocles was no longer alive. He wrote the tragedy when he was 90 years old, and did not live to see the premiere in the theater.

Oedipus blinded himself when he found out that King Laius, whom he killed, was his father and his wife was actually his mother. Oedipus leaves to roam Greece with his daughters. He goes to the suburbs of Athens - Colon.

Oedipus makes a h alt in the grove of Erinyes, where he demands a meeting with the ruler Theseus, because the townspeople do not want to let Oedipus into the city. They are afraid that he will call trouble on Athens and the gods will curse the city.

Ismene, the daughter of Oedipus, appears on the scene. She tells him that one of his sons, Eteocles, deposed another son, Polyneices, from the throne of Thebes. She asks her father to support Polynices, because the outcome of the confrontation between the brothers depends on where Oedipus will be buried. When Ismene leaves, Theseus takes over. He supports Oedipus Rex, promisesany help and awards the blind Oedipus citizenship of Athens.

Oedipus goes to the temple of Poseidon to meet his son Polyneices. The son asks his father for help to take Thebes. Oedipus refuses his son and predict that both of his sons will fall from the wounds they inflict on each other. Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, begs Polyneices not to attack Thebes, but her brother does not listen.

Thunder sounds. Oedipus anticipates his death and, accompanied by Theseus, leaves the children. Oedipus asks Theseus to keep his burial place a secret. This secret must be passed on to Theseus' heirs.

At the end of the production, Oedipus' daughters are tearfully asked to indicate where the king is buried. Theseus is silent and does not want to reveal the truth to them. He transports the daughters of Oedipus to Thebes.

Modern productions

The brightest modern performances of "Oedipus Rex" and "Oedipus in Colon" were staged in Argentina and Russia.

The Colon Theater in Buenos Aires, or the Colὸn Theatre, staged the opera Oedipus in its grandiose hall. Director Alex Olli invited the audience to reflect on the eternal themes that Sophocles speaks about. The opera was a joint project of the Columbus Theatre, the Royal Theater La Monnaie of Brussels, the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) and the National Opera (Paris, France). The music of the Romanian Enescu, written for the premiere at the Paris Opera in 1935, combines modern motives and classical sound.

In 2016, the Vakhtangov Theater, with the support of the National Theater of Greece, staged a performance in the Greek amphitheater of Epidaurus. Oedipus was placed by Rimas Tuminas. The Greek and Russian public met the performance with positive reviews. The Russian actors and the Greek choir, which sang in the original language, impressed many viewers.

Staging by Andrei Konchalovsky

The story of Oedipus Rex received a modern sound in the play by Andrei Konchalovsky. Oedipus in Colon was staged at the Olimpico Theater (Vicenza, Italy) in 2014, and on March 24, 2018 at the BDT (St. Petersburg, Russia).

A modern picture appears before the audience: Oedipus resembles a homeless man, Antigone dejectedly trails behind him. The appearance of the heroes corresponds to their social status: worn jeans with holes, long dirty hair, greasy shirts. They are carrying a cart for groceries from the supermarket. Only in the cart there are not food, but things, whether they are dirty or not, it is difficult to understand.

Antigone is played by actress Yulia Vysotskaya, the director's wife. She is the eyes of Oedipus, without the help of her daughter, the king could not have traveled such long distances. Yulia Vysotskaya admitted to reporters that she put a lot of effort into the image of Antigone, passion and feelings.

The director wants to convey his idea of fate, life and death in words understandable to a modern person. Andrei Konchalovsky sought to show a person and his thoughts at the moment of transition to another world.

Andrey Konchalovsky said that putting Sophocles on stage is as difficult as Chekhov orother playwrights. In the director's mind, tragedy reveals a modern idea in thought and feeling, and clothes are just an external attribute.

Reviews from viewers and critics about the production of Andrei Konchalovsky

The premiere of a 2018 production about the last days of Oedipus' life caused mixed emotions among the audience and theater critics.

According to the reviews, the audience liked the play "Oedipus in Colon" by Andrei Konchalovsky. Everyone has their own tastes, someone loves the classics and does not approve of modern productions, or vice versa. But most reviews of "Oedipus in Colon" is positive. If we sum up all the opinions, we can conclude that people watched the performance in one breath. It changes the idea of life, makes you think about the eternal questions of life, and at the end you feel that you have not wasted your time in vain. Many theatergoers come to the performance especially from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

The opinion of critics about the play "Oedipus in Colon" is the opposite of the audience, but that's why they are critics. The main disadvantages of the performance are considered bad plasticity, low quality of humor at the level of KVN, the emphasis in action is on Yulia Vysotskaya, for whom the performance was staged (critics' opinion), but there are no thoughts in it at all and there is nowhere for them to come from.

Well, in order to form your own opinion about the production of Konchalovsky, it is better to go to the play.