Overview
Since it was first performed in Athens in the
420s BC, Oedipus the King has been widely regarded as Sophocles'
greatest tragedy and one of the foundation stones of western drama.
Taken as a model by Aristotle in his Poetics, it became a yardstick for
future generations. Since the play's rediscovery in the Renaissance,
audiences - including Sigmund Freud - have found new interpretations and
meanings in Sophocles' portrayal of the Theban king, inexorably
pursuing the truth, only to discover that he has killed his father and
married his mother. This translation by Don Taylor, accurate yet poetic,
was made for a BBC TV production of the Theban Plays in 1986, which he
also directed. Commentary and notes by Angie Varakis.