Oedipus (Icke play)
| Oedipus | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the 2025 Broadway production | |
| Written by | Robert Icke |
| Characters | Oedipus Jocasta Teiresias Creon Merope Eteocles Polyneices Antigone Corin Driver |
| Genre | Drama |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 8 April 2018 |
| Place | Toneelgroep Amsterdam |
Oedipus is a 2018 play by Robert Icke. It is a reimagining of the play Oedipus Tyrannos by Sophocles, set on the evening of an election.[1]
Plot
Oedipus is a politician on the verge of winning a landslide election. As his family gather for an evening together, and as the polls close, Oedipus' life starts to fall apart. As a clock ticks down to his victory in real time, the truth about who he is emerges.[2][3]
Production history
Toneelgroep Amsterdam (2018)
Having been invited by Ivo van Hove to Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Icke wrote Oedipus specifically for the actors of the ensemble. Icke wrote in English, and the script was translated into Dutch by Rob Klinkenberg.[4] Working with his regular creative team, designer Hildegard Bechtler, lighting designer Natasha Chivers, video designer Tal Yarden and sound designer Tom Gibbons, Icke's production premiered on the 8th of April, 2018 in the Rabozaal. Its critical success led to Icke making a further four productions with the company. Icke stated his goal as
...to provide for an audience today the impact and immediacy of the original before we all knew its twists and turns.[5]
Icke spoke later of the production as a "love story", specifying
It’s easy in Oedipus to make the audience go, “Ugh, incest.” The difficult thing is to make them want the incest to continue. The challenge is to take the audience to the place they didn’t know they could go.[6]
The Dutch production toured, including to the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019, where it received rave reviews from the UK theatre press.[7][8] It was later filmed as an ITA Live capture.[9]
West End (2024)
In 2019, Sonia Friedman announced that Icke's production would open in the West End in 2020, starring Mark Strong and Helen Mirren. Following the COVID pandemic, Mirren's schedule prohibited her participation and Lesley Manville was announced as the production's new Jocasta. The same creative team worked on the production, and the script was published by Nick Hern Books.
It opened at the Wyndham's Theatre on the 15th October 2024 to ecstatic reviews from the UK press.[10] Icke, Manville and Strong all won Critics' Circle Theatre Awards[11] and Manville an Olivier Award for Best Actress. The production was named the Best Revival at the Olivier Awards in 2025.[12]
Broadway (2025)
The production, led by Strong and Manville, transferred to Studio 54 in the fall of 2025 and played a successful season until February 2026. Anne Reid made her Broadway debut in the role of Merope, aged 90.[13] The production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play and nominations for Strong and Manville.[14]
European transfers
The production, with the same creative team, opened in the fall of 2025 in Athens at the Onassis Stegi, performed in Greek.[15][16] The same creative team opened a production in German at the Residenztheater in Munich.[17] This follows Icke's play The Doctor which also played in many languages in its original production.
Critical reception
Icke's production has largely been received well by critics. Sarah Hemming wrote in her five-star Financial Times review of the London production:
Icke's staging buzzes with resonance in a world where truth is a contested commodity and politicians promising change stride across the public domain, where arguments rage about who belongs and who doesn't. But it also goes much deeper. It reaches far into the nagging question of how much any of us really want to know, evoking that sudden lurch of panic when a partner's infidelity, a redundancy or a medical diagnosis pulls the rug from under us and shifts our perception of who we are.[15]
In The New York Times, Alexis Soloski praised the show, calling Strong's and Manville's performances "superb" and Icke's script "electrifying".[18]
Characters and cast
| Character | Amsterdam[7] | Edinburgh | West End[19] | Broadway[20] | Athens[21] | Munich[17] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||
| Oedipus | Hans Kesting | Mark Strong | Nikos Kouris | Florian von Manteuffel | ||
| Jocasta | Marieke Heebink | Lesley Manville | Karyofyllia Karabeti | Barbara Horvath | ||
| Merope | Frieda Pittoors | June Watson | Anne Reid | Rania Oikonomidou | Rita Russek | |
| Creon | Aus Greidanus jr. | Michael Gould | John Carroll Lynch | Alexandros Mylonas | Robert Dölle | |
| Antigone | Helene Devos | Gaite Jansen | Phia Saban | Olivia Reis | Danai-Arsenia Filidou | Linda Blümchen |
| Polyneices | Harm Duco Schut | James Wilbraham | Giannis Tsoumarakis | Dominik Weileder | ||
| Eteocles | Josha Stradowski | Jordan Scowen | Giorgos Ziakas | Volodymyr Melnykov | ||
| Teiresias | Hugo Koolschijn | Samuel Brewer | Kostas Nikouli | Steffen Höld | ||
| Driver | Bart Slegers | Gary McDonald | Teagle F. Bougere | Sokratis Patsikas | Thomas Reisinger | |
| Corin | Fred Goessens | Alexander Elmecky | Bhasker Patel | Takis Sakellariou | Michael Goldberg | |
| Lichas | Violet Brackman | Sara Hazemi | Ani Mesa-Perez | Chara Giota | Daria Welsch | |
Awards and nominations
2018 Netherlands Production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | VSCD Toneelprijzen | Theo D'Or | Marieke Heebink | Nominated | [22] |
2024 West End production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Critics' Circle Theatre Award | Best Actress | Lesley Manville | Won | [23] |
| Best Actor | Mark Strong | Won | |||
| Best Director | Robert Icke | Won | |||
| Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Revival | Won | [24] | ||
| Best Actress | Lesley Manville | Won | |||
| Best Actor | Mark Strong | Nominated | |||
| Best Director | Robert Icke | Nominated | |||
| Best Theatre Choreographer | Hofesh Shechter | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Design | Christopher Shutt | Nominated | |||
2025 Broadway production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Nominated | [25] | |
| Best Actor in a Play | Mark Strong | Nominated | |||
| Best Actress in a Play | Lesley Manville | Won | |||
| Best Direction of a Play | Robert Icke | Nominated | |||
| Best Scenic Design in a Play | Hildegard Bechtler | Nominated | |||
| Best Lighting Design in a Play | Natasha Chivers | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Design in a Play | Tom Gibbons | Nominated | |||
| Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play | Lesley Manville | Won | [26] | |
| Outstanding Sound Design of a Play | Tom Gibbons | Won | |||
| Outstanding Projection Design | Tal Yarden | Won | |||
| Outstanding Adaptation | Robert Icke | Won | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Nominated | [27] | ||
| Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play | Lesley Manville | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Direction of a Play | Robert Icke | Nominated | |||
| Theatre World Award | Honoree | Lesley Manville | Won | [28] | |
References
- ↑ Green, Jesse (17 November 2025). "'Oedipus' Review: A Royal Mess, Fit for Broadway". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Turner, Kyle (13 November 2025). "'Oedipus' Broadway review — Mark Strong and Lesley Manville are explosive in this reimagined classic". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Green, Jesse (17 November 2025). "'Oedipus' Review: A Royal Mess, Fit for Broadway". |The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Wiegand, Chris; Wiegand, Interviews by Chris (1 August 2022). "'How many litres of blood do we need?': Ivo van Hove's ITA on 20 years of shocking theatregoers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Fisher, Mark (24 June 2019). "Robert Icke: 'British theatre often thinks of itself as church'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Rodosthenous, George (1 December 2025). "On Being Robbed of Polite Boredom: Finding the Code. Interview with Director Robert Icke". Critical Stages/Scènes critiques. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- 1 2 "Oedipus". Edinburgh International Festival. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ "Oedipus review, King's Theatre, Edinburgh, 2019". The Stage. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ ITA Live: Oedipus (2021). Retrieved 8 May 2026 – via letterboxd.com.
- ↑ "Oedipus starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville - review round-up". The Stage. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Wiegand, Chris (27 March 2025). "Robert Icke's modern-day Oedipus triumphs at Critics' Circle theatre awards". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ OfficialLondonTheatre (7 May 2025). Oedipus wins Cunard Best Revival | Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard. Retrieved 8 May 2026 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Raven, Paul (23 October 2025). "Anne Reid to make Broadway debut with Lesley Manville & Mark Strong in Oedipus | West End Theatre". www.westendtheatre.com. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (5 May 2026). "Tony Nominations 2026, Read the Complete List; The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! Lead". Playbill. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- 1 2 www.onassis.org https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/oedipus-robert-icke. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ Tripney, Natasha (28 January 2026). "Translations: Staging Robert Icke's Oedipus in Athens". Café Europa. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- 1 2 Icke, Robert. "Ödipus". AUF DER BÜHNE (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Green, Jesse (13 November 2025). "Review: Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in a Searing 'Oedipus'". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Rook, Olivia (2 September 2024). "Full cast announced for 'Oedipus' in the West End". London Theatre. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ "Cast & Creative| Oedipus Broadway | Starring Mark Strong". oedipustheplay.com/. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ "Oedipus at Onassis Stegi - liminal". 3 December 2025. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ "Marieke Heebink". Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Rabinowitz, Chloe (27 March 2025). "2025 Critics' Circle Theatre Award Winners Revealed". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Higgins, Molly (6 April 2025). "Giant, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Win Big at 2025 Olivier Awards; Read the Full List Here". Playbill. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
- ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (5 May 2026). "Tony Nominations 2026, Read the Complete List; The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! Lead". Playbill. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (18 May 2026). "Ragtime Leads 2026 Drama Desk Awards; Read the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (11 May 2026). "Schmigadoon!, Ragtime Win Big at 2026 Outer Critics Circle Awards; Read the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ↑ "2026 THEATRE WORLD AWARDS HONOREES". Theatre World Awards. Theatre World Awards, Inc. Retrieved 20 May 2026.