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The Oedipus Plays by Sophocles - Audible Version

The legendary play tells the story of the namesake of the Psychological problem "Oedipus complex". Although the term's repeated use in popular culture has given it a comedic and silly pretense, the play was very heart wrenching to listen to. Well there are actually three plays, titled as, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. All three stories have an existence of their own. So to give each their justice I will review each of them separately, but not without comparison and context.

The first play is the best among the three. Oedipus The King starts with the sufferings of the citizens of Thebes who are hungry and starving and disease stricken. For all this to end a cursed man must be identified and removed from the land of Thebes; A man who has committed an unspeakable crime. Oedipus The King is one of those rare stories which are more enjoyable when one knows who is the culprit. That means the story is Spoiler resistant. It is my theory that almost everyone who decides to read this play do so after knowing about the unspeakable crime and the culprit, but that does not take away any, if not add more, enjoyment in reading the story. If you get to see the play performed or listen like I did then it is a cherry on top. The performances were on spot. I had no trouble in feeling the pain and shame of the characters even though the crime is totally not relatable for me or anyone who is reading. The dialogues are well written and convey the precise feeling of the characters. The pace once the play takes off after the catalytic event is rapid and the building up of the story was also breathtakingly beautiful, even though tragic.

The second play Oedipus at Colonus even though comes at last position among the three, for me, is still a real and beautiful portrait of the end of a man who fell victim to the tragic tricks of fate. Here the man is a refugee and is pleading for deliverance to both the King of the Land and King of the mystical realm, seeking refuge from all those who are not yet done with him; those who encircle him like Vultures around a dying animal seeking to feast upon it's dead flesh. The performance and production quality stands par with the first play. But the story was quite underwhelming after listening to the first one.

The third play Antigone tells the story of titular character after the death of her father and her brothers. She comes in conflict with the King when he decides that the flesh shall rot and the birds shall have their fair share. The curse returns to Thebes in this play by the sins of another man. This play out of the three is the best in the it's production value. While the dialogue delivery and music were up at their usual good standard the addition of songs surpassed my expectations. There was one at the end in Greek and it reminded me of the Orthodox chants, but these if I am not wrong are even older. The story was also good and the messages it tried to resonate found it's relevance even today after 2000 years.

In summary all three plays are good and worth listening to. But out of the three first one is the best. What stands out of all three is the tragedy, which is caused by one senseless emotion that is anger. Even though it is not made obvious by the author the signs are there. 

And here ends my review. Have a great listen.

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