Oedipus the Visionary

by David Greig

A modern adaptation of Oedipus Rex with an insightful introduction by the playwright David Greig

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

David Greig is a Scottish dramatist. He was born in Edinburgh in 1969 and brought up in Nigeria. He studied drama at Bristol University and is now a well-known writer and director of plays. He has been commissioned by the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and was Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh from 2015 until 2025, when he left to return to writing.

His first play was produced in Glasgow in 1992 and he has written many plays since, produced worldwide. In 1990 he co-founded Suspect Culture Theatre Group with Graham Eatough in Glasgow.

His translations include Camus' Caligula (2003), Candide 2000, and When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, based on a book by Raja Shehadeh. Danmy 306 + Me (4 ever) (1999) is a play written for children.

David Greig's plays include The American Pilot (2005), about America's involvement in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; Pyrenees (2005) about a man who is found in the foothills of the Pyrenees, having lost his memory; and San Diego (2003), a journey through the American dream. His latest works are Gobbo, a modern- day fairytale; Herges Adverntures of Tintin, an adaptation; Yellow Moon (2006); and Damascus (2007)

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Especially toward the end this becomes a very standard retelling of the Oedipus story, but there is much more focus on the communal devastation caused by the plague early in Greig's retelling. And because he suggests a South African setting, this play works both alongside Sophocles' King Oedipus and as a critique of the socio-economic exploitation that underpins neocolonialism. The accusations that Oedipus is the source of the play in Greig's play move in two directions--to the immediate fatalism of the Greek source text, but also as a critique of the continuing structures of inequality remaining in post-apartheid South Africa, as well as the distinct class divisions in other parts of the neoliberal world order.

Another aspect of this play that's interesting and striking is Greig's spare, taut language (I haven't read any of his other plays yet, so I don't know how characteristic this is of his work). In the introduction to this printed edition, Greig writes that he didn't want audiences to be taken in by the beauty of the language, but to be viscerally confronted by the horror of the play in the tradition of In Yer Face theatre. I think the short lines, the clipped sentences, and the half spoken thoughts do that really well--Greig uses dialogue, uses language to build the tense and high pressure tone he wants, but he also balances it skillfully with more lengthy, loquacious sections, like Jocasta's reminiscence near the beginning of a festival.
https://youtu.be/Jmr7TwP4kCs