On the eve of a landslide election, Oedipus (Mark Strong) holes up in his campaign headquarters with his family.  Oedipus has run as an outsider candidate, as a man who loves his children (Olivia Reis, Jordan Scowen, and James Wilbraham), doesn’t cheat on his wife (Lesley Manville), and frustrates his campaign manager and brother-in-law (John Caroll Lynch) with his refusal to lie to the public.  Before the polls close, Oedipus announces an investigation into the suspicious death of Laius, his predecessor in office and the former husband of his wife.

This announcement is the first domino to fall in Oedipus, an adaptation by director Robert Icke currently running at Studio 54.  The challenge of any adaptation of a Greek tragedy, especially one as well-known as this, is that it must feel both surprising and inevitable.  The author cannot violate the spirit of the text but must nevertheless reveal some new angle on the material.  On a superficial level, Icke has updated the setting from ancient Thebes to modern (I think) England.  In terms of character dynamics, his focus is on the love story between Oedipus and Jocasta.  Jocasta was married to Laius at thirteen; her son has been the uxorious husband she was denied when she was sentenced to the life of a child bride.

The emotional story being told here is effective.  Both Strong and Manville are excellent actors.  They are convincing as lovers and partners, and they are able to handle the dialogue without resorting to histrionics.  Watching them, we don’t really think about the Freudian overtones of the material, no small achievement for a play that has been shadowed by psychoanalysis for over a century.

The political story, however, is less convincing.  Icke has surrounded his characters with volatile themes (populism, in particular), and yet he doesn’t seem to have much to say about them.  Oedipus is new to politics and promises to expose government secrets—the Epstein story is an unfortunate coincidence, perhaps, but Icke must have known he was skirting a conversation about Trump, and yet he declines to have that conversation.  He should have engaged more fully or avoided it altogether.  Unfortunately, this indecision prevents the adaptation from being a complete success.

Oedipus runs through February 8th at Studio 54.  254 W. 54th Street  New York, NY.  2 hours.  No intermission. Photograph by Julieta Cervantes.