A play that may shake your certainty that you know this story
You know the truth before the hero does. And yet, you wish he’d never find out. I saw Robert Icke’s “Oedipus” in London and Athens, with the English and Greek casts. Now that it’s returning to the Onassis Cultural Center, I recommend a production that may shake your certainty that you know this story.
Election night. A charismatic politician is preparing for his triumph. The polls predict a landslide victory; his aides are trying to keep everything under control; and a timer on stage counts down to the announcement of the exit polls. His wife and their three children are gathered at the campaign headquarters. They are waiting for the start of a new life.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Rubio’s messages from Athens are significant, says Letympiotis
Rubio’s messages from Athens are significant, says Letympiotis
The candidate has already pledged on live television to make his birth certificate public, in response to questions about his origins. He wants transparency. He has nothing to hide. At least, that’s what he believes.
His name is Oedipus. His wife’s name is Jocasta.
In Icke’s hands, Sophocles’ tragedy becomes a contemporary political and family thriller. A man vies for power by promising the truth, without suspecting how much the search for it will cost him.
In both productions, what won me over was the time the director devotes to the family. These people joke, get annoyed, touch one another, and love one another. Oedipus and Jocasta are a couple driven by erotic desire; their children are asserting their place in relation to them. Around the table, there are small tensions and moments of tenderness that we recognize. We have just begun to believe in their happiness. That is why every revelation that follows carries such weight: it threatens relationships we have come to care about.
This is also the question that stays with me from the play: how much truth can we bear when the life we’ve built is at risk? Oedipus demands answers with the self-assurance of a man who has learned to move forward. His persistence initially seems like a virtue. Gradually, however, it becomes terrifying. And we, who so readily defend transparency as a principle, begin to fear its consequences.
Icke has the ability to put us in this difficult position without dictating what we should think. From “The Oresteia” and “Hamlet” to “The Doctor,” he works on the texts with persistence, seeking out conflicts that remain unresolved. His precision in pacing and meticulous work with the actors allow room for the characters’ contradictions. You can understand a person and at the same time be horrified by their choices. This ability explains, for me, his place among the most important theater directors of his generation internationally.
The journey of this particular production of *Oedipus* began in Amsterdam in 2018, with Hans Kesting and Marieke Heebink. It moved on to London in 2024, starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville, and then to Broadway in 2025. That same year, the production arrived at the Onassis Cultural Center, starring Nikos Kouris and Karyofyllia Karabeti. The same directorial vision was adapted from Dutch to English and then to Greek, taking on different nuances with each production.
Awards followed this international run. In London, the production won two Olivier Awards —for Best Revival and Best Performance by an Actress for Manville— and three Critics’ Circle Awards, for Icke’s direction and the performances of the two leads. In New York, it won four Drama Desk Awards, while Manville was honored with the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play and a Theatre World Award.
Critic Arifa Akbar, writing in *The Guardian*, highlighted the intensity the production maintains from beginning to end and the power of the performances. Critic Sarah Hemming of the Financial Times noted how the political starting point leads to something deeply personal: the fear of a revelation that could overturn the image we have of ourselves.
My interest in director Robert Icke’s work continues with the stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film *The Lives of Others*, which opens in October at London’s Adelphi Theatre. Starring Keira Knightley, Stephen Dillane, and Luke Thompson, with original music by Max Richter, this is yet another exploration by Icke of themes of power and human consciousness—one I’m eager to see.
In Athens, “Oedipus” returns from November 12 through December 13, 2026. Nikos Kouris reprises the title role, while Maria Kechagioglou takes on the role of Jocasta this time around.
Oedipus | Robert Icke
Starring Nikos Kouris and Maria Kechagioglou
November 12 – December 13, 2026
Main Stage, Onassis Cultural Center
