Arts & Culture

CHAZAN | Creon’s America

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“What report do you come bringing us from god?”

“A good one! For I say, things hard to bear might chance to mean good luck — if, by some chance they turn out straight.”

Thus, Creon reintroduces himself to Oedipus after a long journey, bearing significant news. His report is of course not good. This I the first thing I said as I walked onstage for three nights, in the recent Classics department production of Sophocles’ Oedipus. This circular, beguiling phrase, swollen with hope and deceit, has come to haunt me.

Arts & Culture

Oedipus at the Black Box Theatre

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On the evenings of November 10, 11 and 12, an all-student cast took to the stage in the Schwartz Center’s Black Box Theatre to share the well-known but often misunderstood story of Oedipus Rex. Prof. Frederick Ahl directed the play, which he translated himself from a relatively early version of Sophocles’ tale. Thanks to Ahl and the Department of Classics, the production found a place for all who wished to participate, and some had no prior acting experience. While this “obviously has its perils,” as Ahl explained before the show’s beginning, the play was very well acted all the same. The very name of the title character makes most people cringe, but this production emphasized that the play is about far more than the accidental incest it is known for.