National Theatre of Scotland Young Company, Platform, Glasgow, and touring 2006

The cast of Oedipus the King

THE RECENT Wee Stories children’s show, ‘Is this a Dagger?’, was a fine example of a theatre company making accessible a play – in this case, ‘Macbeth’ –to a young audience not yet familiar with the classics.

Actor Andy Cannon gave a run-down of the story in modern language, sharing a sense of its excitement, before passing on a flavour of Shakespeare’s version and an insight into the historical reality. He stripped the play of its cultural baggage and communicated his passion in a way that engaged and entertained his audience.

The National Theatre of Scotland Young Company takes a similar approach to Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus the King’, in the sense that it views a classic play through the perspective of today.

Instead of playing it straight, the four actors – Neil Campbell, Maryam Hamidi, Scott Hoatson and Kirstin McLean – start off by trying to spook each other out, à la ‘The Blair Witch Project’, by telling creepy stories around the campfire where they’ve arrived, a five-hour car journey away from home.

They launch into the tale of Oedipus – the king who realises he’s prime suspect in his own investigation – each stepping into character as the story demands.

Unlike the example of Wee Stories, however, it’s not clear why they’ve taken this approach. For one thing, the show isn’t being pitched at 10-year-olds, so it doesn’t need to be simplified.

In any case, the 2400-year-old play is always performed in modern translations, so there’s no need to explain what makes it such a compelling story: you only need to tell it like it is.

What’s more, the way the actors switch between chatty modern-day conversation and highly styled classical poetry suggests they haven’t decided whether they’re doing theatre or storytelling.

You can see how it might have worked – the framing device is, after all, a highly theatrical technique – but not with such a poor standard of verse speaking. It’s not a matter of clarity: you can understand what they’re saying, it’s just that they’re so whiny it takes a real effort of will to stay listening.

The effect is the opposite of what they intended. Instead of bringing us closer to this ancient tale, the production shows us Oedipus at one remove, his tragedy a distant, second-hand thing that fails to connect.

(Oedipus the King can be seen at Universal Hall, Findhorn, 20 November, and An Lanntair, Stornoway, 24 November).

© Mark Fisher, 2006

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