Acceptance - that is the great lesson suffering teaches

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Oedipus : The Old Vic

My first theatre trip of the year and, somewhat surprisingly, my second trip to see Oedipus in a couple of months. This one was booked mostly on account of the names involved (Rami Malek and Indira Varma), but I was also intrigued to compare the two versions - I was hoping they weren't going to be identical!

And...the good news is that they very much weren't identical. Whereas the previous version was a contemporary update with a busy set and a sizeable cast, this is - well, not. It starts in the dark with a crowd chanting Oedipus's name and then, quite obviously, loud music starts with a huddle of contemporary dancers throwing themselves in a patch of light. The light then went out and the process repeated in a different part of the stage - and so on for a good couple of minutes. All of which looked impressive, but was somewhat unexpected!

Eventually, the play did get going and - as far as I know (which isn't very far) it was a reasonably traditional telling of the tale. The contrast with the previous version was stark because there was no set here at all, except for a smaller stage that rose out of the larger stage (for no obvious reason). And, with the exception of the dance crew, it was a small cast with Rami obviously playing Oedipus and Indira being Jocasta, his wife. They make a decent couple and bring out the humanity in the characters - particularly Jocasta, who handles the situation with much more of a level headed approach, for all the good it does her!

The only other adult members of the cast are Nicholas Khan as Creon, who was much more of a baddie than the previous version, Cecilia Nobel as Tiresias, who is having a blast scaring everyone with her prophecies and Joseph Mydell and Nicholas Woodeson as incidental servants who exist merely to push the plot along. And let's also give shout-outs to Amelia Pankhania and Roisin Bhella as the kids who don't have a lot to do, but they do it well nonetheless.

And then there's question of the dancers. Not only are they there at the start of the play, they also come back at regular intervals throughout. There's obviously a lot of skill involved and they look quite impressive - but can you tell there's a "but" coming? There doesn't (to me) seem to be any particular point to them, there's too many of them and sometimes they go on for far too long - my suspicion is that they're there merely for padding, because it's not the longest of plays. I'm sure the directors would tell me otherwise, but I'm afraid I'd merely nod disbelievingly at them.

I am, however, given that there's no set, strangely impressed by the setting of the play - the use of light to restrict or expand the working area is impressive (and often also very beautiful) and the audience is at times cleverly used to represent a crowd of Thebans, which works well thanks to some sonic trickery.

I know there was a bit of a fuss about two versions of the same play appearing in quick succession in the West End, but I actually quite liked being able to compare them. Mark Strong and Lesley Manville easily had the better chemistry and more obvious "acting" opportunities, but Rami and (particularly) Indira brought more humanity to the roles, which conversely felt like "better" acting. The contemporary updating of the previous version felt well done, but I think I actually preferred the classic setting in use here - sometimes you just have to accept that things don't make so much sense out of time. And the stripped back setting was definitely a case of "less is more" - it was often gorgeous to look at. So, all in all, this was an enjoyable evening out with a lot to admire - I'm just not sure about all the dance interludes.

The Power of 13 - An enjoyable play in an excellent theatre