Oedipus Rex in the form of a Modern Production
In contrast to one another, two forms of the famous primordial Greek performance "Oedipus Rex" could be made to suit the play in a present day state of mind.
One such play could be to try and re-live the actual play itself, in this statement I mean perform the play to almost every identical feature that occurred in the Greek times. Not only would this interest the audience and on-lookers but it could give people the perspective of what the Greek plays were all about and how they were set up. The layout of the theatre would have to resemble a typical theatre in Greece, this would have to be a reconstruction of the Theatre of Dionysus. The theatre contained a semicircular amphitheater, and at its lowest level, stood, the round orchestra, the dancing place where the chorus performed etc. The costumes and dialogue would also have to remain the same, and most importantly the masks which were used in Greek times would be a big part of the play since masks were very important back then.
Now if I were a director of a modern re-take of Oedipus Rex, I would not get rid of the function of the chorus. The chorus would remain a large part of the production, I might change the chorus from being so monotone to maybe something different, like having a different member of the chorus read a different line. What might make the chorus even more interesting is to situate them in the audience, this way their speech is easily heard and distracts the audience from the stage (I believe that in the Greek performances the chorus were not viewed by many on-lookers as many of the audience were distracted by stuff going happening on the stage), the chorus might have voice synthesizers to change their voices and make their speeches more dramatic. To help the chorus as a structure I would also have an orchestra play pieces of music during the performance, when the scene tense and there was a feeling of nervousness then the orchestra would play a certain piece of classical music which would set the mood exactly, when different sets of moods where occurring on stage then the orchestra played certain pieces of music to help set the mood (the music would not be loud but of a good volume so that all the audience could hear it well). I wouldn't have any other forms of music played by the orchestra, they would play old classical music by famous composers such as Beethoven and Mozart etc. I would also change the chorus a little, by this I mean I would cut the amount of speech and time they spent in the performance. By doing this, the chorus would only say relevant strong points instead of rambling on like in other Greek performances. There overall function and meaning of the chorus would remain strong and play a big part in the production.
In contrast to one another, two forms of the famous primordial Greek performance "Oedipus Rex" could be made to suit the play in a present day state of mind.
One such play could be to try and re-live the actual play itself, in this statement I mean perform the play to almost every identical feature that occurred in the Greek times. Not only would this interest the audience and on-lookers but it could give people the perspective of what the Greek plays were all about and how they were set up. The layout of the theatre would have to resemble a typical theatre in Greece, this would have to be a reconstruction of the Theatre of Dionysus. The theatre contained a semicircular amphitheater, and at its lowest level, stood, the round orchestra, the dancing place where the chorus performed etc. The costumes and dialogue would also have to remain the same, and most importantly the masks which were used in Greek times would be a big part of the play since masks were very important back then.
Now if I were a director of a modern re-take of Oedipus Rex, I would not get rid of the function of the chorus. The chorus would remain a large part of the production, I might change the chorus from being so monotone to maybe something different, like having a different member of the chorus read a different line. What might make the chorus even more interesting is to situate them in the audience, this way their speech is easily heard and distracts the audience from the stage (I believe that in the Greek performances the chorus were not viewed by many on-lookers as many of the audience were distracted by stuff going happening on the stage), the chorus might have voice synthesizers to change their voices and make their speeches more dramatic. To help the chorus as a structure I would also have an orchestra play pieces of music during the performance, when the scene tense and there was a feeling of nervousness then the orchestra would play a certain piece of classical music which would set the mood exactly, when different sets of moods where occurring on stage then the orchestra played certain pieces of music to help set the mood (the music would not be loud but of a good volume so that all the audience could hear it well). I wouldn't have any other forms of music played by the orchestra, they would play old classical music by famous composers such as Beethoven and Mozart etc. I would also change the chorus a little, by this I mean I would cut the amount of speech and time they spent in the performance. By doing this, the chorus would only say relevant strong points instead of rambling on like in other Greek performances. There overall function and meaning of the chorus would remain strong and play a big part in the production.
