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Oedipus Machina
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Odyssey Theatre
Through July 26
RECOMMENDED:
Among the reasons to appreciate Ron Sossi’s staging of playwright Ellen McLaughlin’s Oedipus – re-titled Oedipus Machina for the strange extraterrestrial-like edifice that dominates the set – is Joshua Wolfe Coleman’s portrayal of the well-meaning but clueless king.
The story unfolds in a discombobulating space reminiscent of some weird B-sci-fi flick. Designer Keith Mitchell’s Thebes is a portrait of urban blight, a place of rickety walkways and marshy sewers in the midst of which the king’s palace sits — a bluish-white sphere with an ethereal glow. At significant junctures it pivots, a symbol of the relentless wheel of fate. An image of Laius – his head, that is – is eerily ensconced in a spectral globe suspended from the ceiling.
The production takes some time to get going, what with the exposition early on, delivered by the grubby looking chorus of six (somewhat uneven in their delivery), and Oedipus’s own declamatory style, which he employs in response to the piteous cries of the people who are dying of a mysterious plague.
Convinced of his own virtue, Coleman’s righteous monarch – charismatic but not terribly bright – is utterly sincere when declaring his intention to root out the evil laying waste to his people and their city. If ever this Oedipus possessed self-doubt, it was long ago extinguished by the fawning flattery of his subjects.
But this self-confident mien and these gentlemanly ethics easily crumble as details come to light, and it grows difficult for him to dodge the truth of his own culpability. As that happens, and as fear sets in, he transforms, and not for the better –- fixating on his uncle/brother-in-law Creon (Martin Rayner) as a scapegoat and misusing power to pervert the justice he so shortly before claimed to seek and defend.
Of course this is part and parcel of Sophocles’s story, so eloquently set down by McLaughlin. But it is Coleman’s interpretation –- the naïve pretention and disingenuous hypocrisy he projects into the role – that make the process of his unraveling -– dare I say it? -– so engaging to watch.
While Coleman’s performance serves as the linchpin of the narrative, from both an emotional and craft standpoint, the performance to see is Rayner’s. Portraying a smart, world-weary man, his Creon is the opposite of the delusional Oedipus. He’s the character whose travails you identify with, and the performer is flawless in his delivery.
There are two other terrific performances, in minor roles: a seductively entertaining Terry Woodberry as the man who brought Oedipus-the-babe to his foster parents, and Brent Christensen as the simple shepherd who first found him on the rocks and only with great reluctance spills his terrible secret.
The Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., W.L.A.; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (added perfs Wed., 8 p.m. on June 17 and July 8; Thurs., 8 p.m. on June 25, July 2, July 16 and July 23); through July 26. (310) 477-2055, Ext. 2, www.OdysseyTheatre.com
