Still time to catch the Greek Play at Cambridge Arts Theatre
Oedipus and Colonus by Sophocles is this year’s Greek play at the Arts Theatre, performed in Greek by Cambridge University students.
A tradition which takes place every three years and one which dates back to 1882, the Greek Play's alumni include Rupert Brooke, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Tom Hiddleston.
In this year's production, Oedipus - blind, broken and ravaged by years of weary exile - comes upon the sacred grove of Colonus, the place the gods have prophesied that he will die.
Realising that he has only hours to live, Oedipus seeks the protection of Theseus, King of Athens, for he knows he is about to be betrayed by those he loves.
Director Daniel Goldman said: “I think the last time they did this particular play was in 1950, which was the first year that women performed in the Greek play.
“So it’s amazing to then come back to it 69 years later, and it’s fun to be in that tradition.
"Not many shows have over 130 years of history – it’s pretty exciting.”
Daniel, a Cambridge graduate who is directing his first Greek Play, added: "It's taken a long time, it's a tough gig but now I'm 15 years into my career and I couldn't be happier."
On the subject of this particular play, Daniel said: "Sophocles wrote three plays that are grouped together.
"They're grouped together because they sort of complement each other, the stories sort of flow through.
"I think he wrote Antigone first, then Oedipus Tyrannus and then this one last.
"This was a play he wrote basically on his deathbed, so it's a play about an old man dying and the legacy inheritance/curse that he leaves to different people.
"Some people he leaves with gifts and others he leaves with curses, and then he dies.
"It's a play about death, it's a play about what we leave behind us.
"It's a play about an old man's fear of dying, but what he leaves behind when he dies."
Daniel added: "It's one of these amazing plays that pits the personal and against the political and asks us how do we love.
"That's at the heart of this show - how do we love, especially when the people we love are complicated, difficult people."
Catch Oedipus and Colonus tonight (Friday, October 18) at 7.45pm and tomorrow (Saturday, October 19) at 2.30pm and 7.45pm.
Tickets: £23-£35
cambridgeartstheatre.com
