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I haven’t seen this since I saw it on A&E back in the late 80s or early 90s. That was when that channel actually lived up to its name. I have never forgotten this production since and I’m glad I found it at last. I love this translation/adaptation of the text. So active and conversational yet still elevated. Beautiful performances. Thank you so much for posting!
@@ismailsalem588You can find collections of the plays of Sophocles translated into English in many libraries, bookstores and Amazon, to name a few. I haven’t looked to see if this particular translation is available in printed form. Good luck!
Excellent production of this masterpiece of a play! Every actor is spot on (John Gielgud as Tiresias!), and the direction superb. In the 70's and 80's no one could match the high quality of theatrical and television productions that came out of England at that time. A golden age for acting and productions from the British Isles (sadly not so anymore).
The key moment (1:15:25) when the last pieces of the jigsaw are put in place is chilling. Michael Pennington's horrified whispers send a shiver down my spine, and have done so ever since I saw it on the BBC in 1986. It is tremendous to have this video available though why it has never appeared on DVD is a great mystery to me.
The Chorus is so creepy and cultish in this, and Oedipus' arrogance is really turned up. And, the fact that this is pretty much the same set for the entirety of the play really creates this feeling of isolation that I think was fuel for these type of stories back then. What else were they going to do back then? They didn't have Nintendo or Netflix. This telling of Oedipus the King really creeps me out. The soundtrack is also extremely haunting. When I read the story it was icky, but this really creeps me the fuck out. Ugh. Although, I do feel bad for Oedipus. I don't think he was born a monster - he was made one.
@@thevalkyrie8 @Damo James Well, Mr. Entitled. There was a nicer way to engage in discussion. I did study psychology. I aced it and I'm only a few classes away from making it a minor, if I'd like. I chose minors in English and photography instead. I have always found the human psyche to be incredibly fascinating. I'm well aware that EVERYONE is perfectly capable of extremely evil things, but that doesn't make you or I a monster. We aren't born knowing the difference between right and wrong. Our values are often shaped by how we're raised and what we're exposed to at early ages, which is why you'll find that most serial killers come from very violent childhoods. However, not everyone exposed to violence at a young age will become a serial killer. Society and things like peer pressure and unfortunate situations could drive a person to nurture their evil capacities. All I was merely saying was that Oedipus, like all of us, did not choose the environment that he was born into. But the environment and situation he was born into fueled his evil side. It fueled his thirst for control and power. But the fact that he gouges out his own eyes and casts himself out after finding out the truth of his existence shows that he still had a moral compass. He understands that what happened was evil and he repents, so to speak. What he doesn't seem to see is that it was not his fault. His mother even encourages him to stop his quest for finding out the truth because she knows it will drive him to insanity. I have sympathy for Oedipus because he seems tormented by guilt for something that was unintentional. He is tormented by the good and evil inside of him.
@@rabidrabbitshuggers You're right. I've been to some theater here and there. My girlfriend has friends who help out at some theaters in my hometown. I really do need to binge watch some theater instead of Netflix haha.
Almost brought tears to my eyes -a child chained for no reason , a brave king blind due to his own hands who unkowingly marries his mother ignorance made him happy truth made him blind this line rings in my head when the play ends
It was said by the ancient Greeks that while Euripides depicted men as they are, Sophocles depicted men as they should be. Oedipus pursued the truth, even though he gradually began to realise that that truth would be a nightmare beyond belief.
For the curious- While a masterful production, at the same time it only captures a small portion of the experience of seeing a play in Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece, going to the theater was an all-day event. You didn’t see one play- you would see three plays, usually written by different authors. Tragedies were typically performed first, with Comedies performed at night. And then, in between two plays, there would be a smaller production called a Satyr play; usually a comedic bit that would come between the tragedies and the comedies. While there may have been hundreds, if not thousands of Satyr plays written during that time, today only one complete Satyr play survives. This is not an isolated phenomenon; Mere fractions of the work of some of the most famous playwrights also exist- Sophocles, for instance, is said to have written over 100 plays. Today, only 7 still exist. Aristophanes, the father of comedy, wrote 40 plays, and only 11 survive. Aeschylus- the father of tragedy, wrote about 90 plays, of which only 7 still exist today.
What may be missed at the end of this drama (often called the greatest ever) is the fate of Creon. Arrogant and pompous, he too is walking the path of hubris to his doom. Oedipus at Colonus is the "introduction", and Antigone, its finale.
Tragedy indeed -- Oedipus was essentially cursed by the gods simply for being born and not for anything he himself or his father had done. At least in the Oresteia, Agamemnon was being punished both for what his father had done and for what he himself had done (and Agamemnon only did what he did because the goddess Artemis gave him no choice). Aegisthus and Clytemnestra in their turn were punished for what they did to Agamemnon and Cassandra, and the Furies persecuted Orestes for what he had done to Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.
But he is also punished for his pride in his ability to solve riddles, and they are variously punished for their efforts to thwart the gods' will, by everything they do in that regard only pushing the tragedy forward.
@@Hugh7777 True, but this was deserved and justified punishment for hubris (which the ancient Greeks viewed as one of the worst of all possible sins or crimes, since a mortal guilty of hubris was implicitly claiming equivalence with or even superiority to the immortal gods). However, the fate to which the gods condemned both Laius and Oedipus -- that Laius would die at the hand of his son and that Oedipus would engage in incest with his own mother -- was entirely undeserved and unjustified because there is nothing in the myth to indicate that Laius or anyone in his family had done anything to anger the gods to the point that they decided to curse them through the bloodline. Contrast this with the story of Agamemnon. Part of what contributes to the cycle of bloodshed is that Aegisthus -- Clytemnestra's lover, who helps her kill her husband Agamemnon -- is the son of Thyestes who in turn had a vendetta against his own brother Atreus (Agamemnon's father). Thyestes had an adulterous affair with Atreus's wife. In revenge, Atreus killed the sons of Thyestes (this was before Thyestes fathered Aegisthus) and tricked him into eating them. In a way, Aegisthus and Agamemnon were damned not only for their own actions but also to some extent from birth for those of their fathers -- and their fathers were to some degree damned from birth in their turn for the actions of their grandfather Tantalus whom the ancient Greeks depicted as one of the very worst of all sinners. Tantalus was guilty of hubris -- he disputed the superiority of the gods and decided to challenge them deliberately by inviting them to a banquet and serving them the flesh of his own son Pelops whom he had sacrificed. All but one of the gods immediately saw through the trick -- they brought Pelops back to life and condemned Tantalus to eternal punishment.
Actually Laius, Oedipus' father had violated the law of xenia and was doomed as punishment to be killed by his own son. An oracle warned him not to have children,
The two daughters at the end are, of course, Antigone and Ismene. Antigone is a tragic figure in her own right -- not really because of Oedipus but because of his sons who go to war with each other for control of Thebes when Oedipus dies. Antigone insists on giving her brother Polynices proper burial, contrary to the orders of her uncle Creon who denies Polynices proper burial for rebelling against Antigone's other brother Eteocles.
They took a lot of liberties with this translation, but overall it is quite good. From line 1300 to 1425, its rather disjointed. Pennington is brilliant as always. Very nicely done. Highly recommended!
He considers early on that he may have killed Laius but is reassured that Laius was reportedly killed by robbers, plural, and he had no idea that Laius was his father.
Directors frequently choose to stage both classical and Shakespearean plays in other time periods in order to help modern audiences relate to them better. It's a bit more difficult for modern audiences to relate to the classical plays since they originate in a culture which in many ways is different from those existing today and these plays include elements which are not relevant now (such as the direct intervention of the gods in the affairs of men).
Ancient Greek setting but the wardrobes is dated 21st century i guess. Oedipus wearing white Tuxedo/ Americana and white leather shoes. kinda funny but thanks for the video as our reference to our report.
They had them. They just knew what to do with them. Hemlock - if it's good enough for Socrates, it's good enough for people actually corrupting the youth and the culture.
@@jrb4935 My half assed armchair hypothesis is a mix of the political context of the mid 80’s in the UK and parallels with the time period. The adaption of Titus in the late 90’s Titus was IMO clearly influenced by the rise of 24/7 News channels and live war reporting, the former Yugoslavia especially.
Done studying? Not done studying, but looking to level up your procrastination game? Here's a shameless plug for my old-school Minecraft channel!
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26:22
Finally, something worth watching. Only had to go back 2500 years.
Nuff said
😅😅😅
Thsnk you. I hope you watch the entire cycle. "Oedipus at Colonus" is my favorite.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
... 1,000,000 B.C isn't Great Either... Raquel Welch Is There.... That's It Basically... Raquel is always Moody too... 😢
watch Beau Is Afraid if you're interested in Oedipus
This acting…Its spectacular. I am genuinely baffled, this is extraordinary. The writing, the acting, the emotion. It is amazing.
When Oedipus said "it's Oedipin' time!" I cried. Truly a Greek play of all time.
I haven’t seen this since I saw it on A&E back in the late 80s or early 90s. That was when that channel actually lived up to its name. I have never forgotten this production since and I’m glad I found it at last. I love this translation/adaptation of the text. So active and conversational yet still elevated. Beautiful performances. Thank you so much for posting!
Mr. Brett , Where can I find the text of this amazing play?
@@ismailsalem588You can find collections of the plays of Sophocles translated into English in many libraries, bookstores and Amazon, to name a few. I haven’t looked to see if this particular translation is available in printed form. Good luck!
Excellent production of this masterpiece of a play! Every actor is spot on (John Gielgud as Tiresias!), and the direction superb. In the 70's and 80's no one could match the high quality of theatrical and television productions that came out of England at that time. A golden age for acting and productions from the British Isles (sadly not so anymore).
I've learned that when Tiresias shows up, there's trouble. When he calls, he calls collect.
Gorgeous film.
The key moment (1:15:25) when the last pieces of the jigsaw are put in place is chilling. Michael Pennington's horrified whispers send a shiver down my spine, and have done so ever since I saw it on the BBC in 1986. It is tremendous to have this video available though why it has never appeared on DVD is a great mystery to me.
This is a great version.
The Chorus is so creepy and cultish in this, and Oedipus' arrogance is really turned up. And, the fact that this is pretty much the same set for the entirety of the play really creates this feeling of isolation that I think was fuel for these type of stories back then. What else were they going to do back then? They didn't have Nintendo or Netflix. This telling of Oedipus the King really creeps me out. The soundtrack is also extremely haunting. When I read the story it was icky, but this really creeps me the fuck out. Ugh. Although, I do feel bad for Oedipus. I don't think he was born a monster - he was made one.
Oedipus is a bollox
they're technically a cult in ancient greece
@@thevalkyrie8 @Damo James Well, Mr. Entitled. There was a nicer way to engage in discussion. I did study psychology. I aced it and I'm only a few classes away from making it a minor, if I'd like. I chose minors in English and photography instead. I have always found the human psyche to be incredibly fascinating. I'm well aware that EVERYONE is perfectly capable of extremely evil things, but that doesn't make you or I a monster. We aren't born knowing the difference between right and wrong. Our values are often shaped by how we're raised and what we're exposed to at early ages, which is why you'll find that most serial killers come from very violent childhoods. However, not everyone exposed to violence at a young age will become a serial killer. Society and things like peer pressure and unfortunate situations could drive a person to nurture their evil capacities. All I was merely saying was that Oedipus, like all of us, did not choose the environment that he was born into. But the environment and situation he was born into fueled his evil side. It fueled his thirst for control and power. But the fact that he gouges out his own eyes and casts himself out after finding out the truth of his existence shows that he still had a moral compass. He understands that what happened was evil and he repents, so to speak. What he doesn't seem to see is that it was not his fault. His mother even encourages him to stop his quest for finding out the truth because she knows it will drive him to insanity. I have sympathy for Oedipus because he seems tormented by guilt for something that was unintentional. He is tormented by the good and evil inside of him.
I think when coronavirus dies down, you need to watch more theater.
@@rabidrabbitshuggers You're right. I've been to some theater here and there. My girlfriend has friends who help out at some theaters in my hometown. I really do need to binge watch some theater instead of Netflix haha.
They’re acting is another level...
a british level
THEIR, for god's sake.
Thank you for uploading this! It made studying the play much more enjoyable :-)
Beautiful print. Thank you.❤️❤️❤️
Almost brought tears to my eyes -a child chained for no reason , a brave king blind due to his own hands who unkowingly marries his mother
ignorance made him happy truth made him blind this line rings in my head when
the play ends
Not just chained, his feel nailed together (oedipus = swollen foot) and left to die.
It was said by the ancient Greeks that while Euripides depicted men as they are, Sophocles depicted men as they should be. Oedipus pursued the truth, even though he gradually began to realise that that truth would be a nightmare beyond belief.
you’ve done us a great service
The music that plays when the citizens leave and the Theban counselors show up is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard.
it feels like Jesus Christ Superstar at moments, like Pilot’s moments
Who r u
Excellent Work! Thank you for your effort!
45:40 - two Watsons! Nigel Stock, who played Dr. Watson with Peter Cushing, and Edward Hardwick, who played Dr. Watson with Jeremy Brett!
... " FLIPPING ECK " Very Well Spotted. 🎉
Intellectually stimulating
No way! I’m supposed to watch this and write about it too!!
For the curious-
While a masterful production, at the same time it only captures a small portion of the experience of seeing a play in Ancient Greece.
In Ancient Greece, going to the theater was an all-day event. You didn’t see one play- you would see three plays, usually written by different authors. Tragedies were typically performed first, with Comedies performed at night.
And then, in between two plays, there would be a smaller production called a Satyr play; usually a comedic bit that would come between the tragedies and the comedies.
While there may have been hundreds, if not thousands of Satyr plays written during that time, today only one complete Satyr play survives.
This is not an isolated phenomenon; Mere fractions of the work of some of the most famous playwrights also exist-
Sophocles, for instance, is said to have written over 100 plays. Today, only 7 still exist.
Aristophanes, the father of comedy, wrote 40 plays, and only 11 survive.
Aeschylus- the father of tragedy, wrote about 90 plays, of which only 7 still exist today.
Literature students 2024
What may be missed at the end of this drama (often called the greatest ever) is the fate of Creon. Arrogant and pompous, he too is walking the path of hubris to his doom. Oedipus at Colonus is the "introduction", and Antigone, its finale.
Tragedy indeed -- Oedipus was essentially cursed by the gods simply for being born and not for anything he himself or his father had done. At least in the Oresteia, Agamemnon was being punished both for what his father had done and for what he himself had done (and Agamemnon only did what he did because the goddess Artemis gave him no choice). Aegisthus and Clytemnestra in their turn were punished for what they did to Agamemnon and Cassandra, and the Furies persecuted Orestes for what he had done to Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.
But he is also punished for his pride in his ability to solve riddles, and they are variously punished for their efforts to thwart the gods' will, by everything they do in that regard only pushing the tragedy forward.
@@Hugh7777 True, but this was deserved and justified punishment for hubris (which the ancient Greeks viewed as one of the worst of all possible sins or crimes, since a mortal guilty of hubris was implicitly claiming equivalence with or even superiority to the immortal gods). However, the fate to which the gods condemned both Laius and Oedipus -- that Laius would die at the hand of his son and that Oedipus would engage in incest with his own mother -- was entirely undeserved and unjustified because there is nothing in the myth to indicate that Laius or anyone in his family had done anything to anger the gods to the point that they decided to curse them through the bloodline.
Contrast this with the story of Agamemnon. Part of what contributes to the cycle of bloodshed is that Aegisthus -- Clytemnestra's lover, who helps her kill her husband Agamemnon -- is the son of Thyestes who in turn had a vendetta against his own brother Atreus (Agamemnon's father). Thyestes had an adulterous affair with Atreus's wife. In revenge, Atreus killed the sons of Thyestes (this was before Thyestes fathered Aegisthus) and tricked him into eating them. In a way, Aegisthus and Agamemnon were damned not only for their own actions but also to some extent from birth for those of their fathers -- and their fathers were to some degree damned from birth in their turn for the actions of their grandfather Tantalus whom the ancient Greeks depicted as one of the very worst of all sinners. Tantalus was guilty of hubris -- he disputed the superiority of the gods and decided to challenge them deliberately by inviting them to a banquet and serving them the flesh of his own son Pelops whom he had sacrificed. All but one of the gods immediately saw through the trick -- they brought Pelops back to life and condemned Tantalus to eternal punishment.
Actually Laius, Oedipus' father had violated the law of xenia and was doomed as punishment to be killed by his own son. An oracle warned him not to have children,
In PAkistan I'm studying this in my BS English .Today I have to sumbit my recorded acting from any part of this play for that reason I'm here.😅
same here 😂😁😂
How did the play go
The two daughters at the end are, of course, Antigone and Ismene. Antigone is a tragic figure in her own right -- not really because of Oedipus but because of his sons who go to war with each other for control of Thebes when Oedipus dies. Antigone insists on giving her brother Polynices proper burial, contrary to the orders of her uncle Creon who denies Polynices proper burial for rebelling against Antigone's other brother Eteocles.
I have really enjoyed and learnt
22:57 ''like he was my own father'' am i the only one who had to laugh immediately xd
There are many instances of irony in the text, some hilarious, most disturbing
@@DarryanDhanpat Very true. Look how often Oedipus boasts at his ability to see things, and mocks Tiresias' blindness.
Ah ! Michael Pennington ....the luvviest of all luvvies !
Sophocles made the story an immortal
As usual, this video was used for literature in schools only. : )
They took a lot of liberties with this translation, but overall it is quite good. From line 1300 to 1425, its rather disjointed.
Pennington is brilliant as always. Very nicely done. Highly recommended!
What a wicked play.
Oedipus turned to his mother. "The real Oedipus was the friends we made along the way".
Moff Jerjerrod just can't catch a break, can he?
Not even doubling his efforts could save him...
love this, they post in in 2020? wow, so without covid, no one post this important stuff?
What?
This is hecka tragic
same bro
People who say 'hecka' and 'bro' should not even be watching this.
Did he not ever stop and wonder whom that man he killed was? When they accused him that should have been the first thought that came to his head??
He considers early on that he may have killed Laius but is reassured that Laius was reportedly killed by robbers, plural, and he had no idea that Laius was his father.
Where can I find the Written theatrical text of this play?
Welcome freebirds🙂
Ur watching this now, maybe u were required to make a one summary paper page. Well! Goodluck!
who noticed the word gobbledygook, took me sometime to pronounce it, I heard it once on Blackadder show.
I also heard it on an episode of Frasier where he speaks Klingon at his son’s bar mitzvah…
Why are they all in period clothing but Oedipus is in a modern day suit?
his clothing was typical of Edwardian men's fashion. He's reminiscent of a young dandy.
and their dressed as judges, like a supreme court
Directors frequently choose to stage both classical and Shakespearean plays in other time periods in order to help modern audiences relate to them better. It's a bit more difficult for modern audiences to relate to the classical plays since they originate in a culture which in many ways is different from those existing today and these plays include elements which are not relevant now (such as the direct intervention of the gods in the affairs of men).
@@conorruffin2287 Why, though? Why didn't he dress like an ancient Greek king?
@@OreadNYC 'Help modern audiences relate to them better' = 'dumb them down for morons'.
I want written script of this play🥺
Someone please help me 🙏
Now go and solve THOSE riddles.
WHEW 💀
Is there any chance to find this translation?
Watch it on 2x speed
what's oedipus tone like?
that’s two people from indiana jones and the last crusade
So?
@@jrb4935 i like that it makes me excited sorry to bother you lol
Bambi naive Jocasta n Oedipus
Bookmark: 30:26
47:19 Personal mark
Anyone know the translator?
Don Taylor was the director and translator for this production.
@@aposterioricoffeeco.5633 TY Very nice translation. WOnderful production.
Anyone else have theatre for cal poly And watched this
Too bad to be so inquisitive, a lesson learnt but any way it was all about the role of the gods😔😔😔
A+ 5.6.22
Okay
30:31 bookmark
Rodriguez John Perez Mark Lopez Scott
You think this is 720p? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lee Linda Hernandez Deborah Anderson Elizabeth
1:20
Hmmm you joke with people even your parent can foresake you
Harris Lisa White Gary Moore Amy
Thomas Ronald Wilson Mark Moore Sharon
Allen Margaret Martinez Kimberly Williams Maria
fr all you wilson hillers, i say hello
Williams Scott Clark Maria Young Timothy
Oedipus's hubris. This is what brought him down, yet, the punishment outweighs the crime.
Ancient Greek setting but the wardrobes is dated 21st century i guess. Oedipus wearing white Tuxedo/ Americana and white leather shoes. kinda funny but thanks for the video as our reference to our report.
Jones Lisa Young Christopher Robinson Robert
I never really wanted to kill my father and do it with my mother. Did I miss out on something?
lamo DT at it again, REMEMBER JAN 6th!!!!!
Literature students 2023
Babu sir a sabo koise
Who is Babu sir
A Great teacher
UNWATCHABLE
Eeh but Oedipus hmmmm so arrogant n disrespectful
wearing a suit in ancient greece?
The people in the old Hellenic civilization had not heard about SJW?
But, apparently they'd heard of button-down suits with creased pants.
@@TuxedoCatCartoons - a real m*therf*cker in fashion
They had them. They just knew what to do with them. Hemlock - if it's good enough for Socrates, it's good enough for people actually corrupting the youth and the culture.
@@ronaldfrechette2045 Yikes dude.
Why can't they just dress like ancient Greeks?
Creative choice
@@thebraxtonater8466 For what purpose?
The performances from the actors matter to me than authenticity, and they were pretty damn good in this one
@@chrystals.4376 But why are they dressed in 19th century style? I don't understand the reason for it.
@@jrb4935 My half assed armchair hypothesis is a mix of the political context of the mid 80’s in the UK and parallels with the time period.
The adaption of Titus in the late 90’s Titus was IMO clearly influenced by the rise of 24/7 News channels and live war reporting, the former Yugoslavia especially.
Eeh but Oedipus hmmmm so arrogant n disrespectful