You know the saying – you wait for one adaptation of Oedipus and two come along at the same time. In an oddness of press releases late last week, rival productions of Sophocles’ tragedy with some seriously big names attached were announced within moments of each other, despite tickets or any real details about their runs not being available for either.
At the Wyndham’s Theatre from 4th October 2024, Robert Icke’s self-directed adaptation (so brilliant in Dutch at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam), will star Mark Strong (Oedipus) and Lesley Manville (Jocasta). And over at the Old Vic in January 2025, Ella Hickson is on adaptation duties, with Matthew Warchus and Hofesh Shechter directing Rami Malek (Oedipus) and Indira Varma (Jocasta).
The clash may be a *little* unfortunate but it’s no great deal in reality. They’re bound to be highly contrasting productions and with those headline cast members, it’ll be an embarrassment of riches in terms on the onstage talent. Sign up for more details about Icke’s Oedipus here: Oedipustheplay.com and sign up to the Old Vic’s newsletter at oldvictheatre.com/register to be the first to hear when tickets go on sale there.
