February is quite a month for major stars appearing in classic plays in London – we’ll soon have Tom Hiddleston in Much Ado About Nothing and Jonathan Bailey in Richard II. Before either of those shows open, we have Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek starring as the titular Oedipus, opposite Olivier-winner Indira Varma.
We’ll start by saying it looks incredible – this production really is an absolute visual feast. Tom Visser’s lighting design is wonderfully atmospheric and Rae Smith’s set is deceptively simple, creating a vast, dry expanse within The Old Vic Theatre. Something we never thought we’d say about Oedipus – the choreography is exceptional. Hofesh Shechter’s company portray the unrest of the citizens of Thebes; they take on the role of Greek chorus in this production, and it’s very effective.
Yet something feels a little off – it all seems somewhat disjointed. While we very much enjoyed it, there is a lot of choreography throughout: the run time is just shy of 100 minutes (no interval) and a significant proportion of that is taken up by dancing. At times it feels a little intrusive, disrupting the flow of the narrative. It’s also a very loud production – the sheer volume of the drumming would have been effective if used more sparingly, but it comes across a bit chaotic.
What of our big name stars? Well, Malek is cold and distant as the king – which sort of works, although it feels a bit like a reprise of his Bond villain era, and is a little one-note throughout. Indira Varma exudes more depth and nuance in her performance, and we also warmed to Cecilia Noble as soothsayer Tiresias – she brings a healthy dose of humour to proceedings and is a captivating stage presence.
There are plenty of enjoyable moments in Oedipus and it certainly looks the part, but we left the theatre feeling slightly underwhelmed – this unusual production doesn’t quite click together, resulting in a show that’s a little chaotic and confused. There’s some fantastic dancing, it looks the part, you’ll get to see some fine actors, but sadly it doesn’t really add up to more than the sum of its parts.
GAY TIMES gives Oedipus – 3/5
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