Genesius Guild in Rock Island kicks off its 59th season of presenting the classics in Lincoln Park – for free – with one of the best known plays of Greek playwright Sophocles: Oedipus Rex. Yes, I pronounced that “EE-duh-puhs” as I was taught by the Guild’s founder, Don Wooten. Think about it…do you pronounce the capital of Arizona “pheh-nix?” I did Google how to pronounce this ancient name and, to my surprise, Google went with “eh-duh-puhs.” So, you say “toe-may-toe,” I say “toe-mah-toe.” I choose “EE-duh-puhs.”
In case you need a brush-up on your Greek mythology, Oedipus was a mythical king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. In an effort to thwart that prophecy, Oedipus’ mom and dad, Laius and Jocasta, pin his heels together and give their three day old son to a servant to leave him on a mountain thinking that if he is dead he can’t kill Dad. But…said servant can’t bring himself to kill that precious little guy and, instead, gives him to a shepherd who takes him to King Polybus and Queen Merope who are having procreation issues who raise him as their own. Oedipus doesn’t know this until that darn Oracle of Delphi spills the beans and Oedipus flees the country to avoid killing the man he thinks is his dad. Of course, he meets up with his bio dad on the road out of town, they mix it up and Oedipus ends up killing him. He then goes on to Thebes, hooks up with Jocasta – totally unaware of who she really is…and you get the idea. Ultimately, Jocasta and Oedipus learn the truth, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus, upon finding her body, blinds himself using her brooches. And this is just the first installment of the Sophocles trilogy.
Standing O’s to director, Michael Callahan, for staying true to Don Wooten’s vision for presenting Greek tragedy while also introducing some new concepts. Callahan has changed the decades old traditional opening procession and also extends the procession into the audience. In addition, he has the characters of the Priest of Zeus and Creon make their entrances through the audience. The approach is fresh and works quite well.
Taking on the titular role of Oedipus is the well-known to Quad City audiences, Jeremy Mahr, who delivers an impassioned performance as the tortured king. However he sported full sleeve tattoos. While the Greeks did not generally have tattoos themselves, they did use tattooing as a form of punishment or stigmatization, particularly on criminals, slaves, and prisoners of war so, a king would not have them. Also a stand-out to this strong cast is Jake Walker as the blind prophet, Teresius. Walker’s interpretation is both foreboding yet, in places, taunting that actually elicited some very appropriate chuckles from the audience.
In the past, the Guild has made some attempts at painting the set which were not particularly successful. However, Scenic Designer, Miranda Callahan, has really turned that around and Jacob Lund continues to best himself every season with his design of the masks which were the best I’ve ever seen.
On the down side, the pacing of the show was a bit of a slog, the chorus was not quite in unison in spots and some were wearing street clothes that could be seen under their costumes. In particular there was a pair of shorts sticking out beneath with the Nike swoosh visible. Nike was a Greek god, but…. That aside, this show is still well worth your time to see.
Oedipus Rex continues on the Don Wooten stage at Lincoln Park located at 38th Street and 11th Avenue in Rock Island, Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15 at 7:00 p.m.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.