23 February 2025
Having booked my (very expensive) front stalls seat as soon as the show went on sale, I approached this production of Sophocles’s two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old classic drama with not a little trepidation after a barrage of negative press night reviews about the lead performer and the revolutionary dance/theatre concept. But I can happily report that it blew me completely away.
As Oedipus, who has successfully and benevolently ruled Thebes for the past 20 years (ever since the last king died mysteriously), Remi Malek is the big ticket draw. As Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the 2018 biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody, he won many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category. The film became a major box office success, grossing over $900 million worldwide on a production budget of about $50 million. I am a huge fan of his TV and film work so didn’t begrudge shelling out £140 for my seat in row G (which actually ended up being the 2nd row with no-one in front of me as six central seats in F were removed for a thrust platform with side steps). Result. And I was really up close and personal with Remi, literally breathing the same air.
Reaction to his performance on press night was savage, with most critics claiming that his delivery was robotic and stilted. I can only think that he must have been suffering acute stress from the pressure of the occasion because at the performance i saw two weeks later he was naturalistic, committed, layered and hypnotic.
Thebes is a sacred place that its citizens cannot abandon, even though they are dying of drought. Laboring under a harsh red sun (created by Tom Visser’s stunning lighting), and dust storms, the population are paralysed by drought and superstition. The people are revolting and demand answers and relief from the gods.
The Hofesh Shechter dance company (Shecter and Matthew Warchus co-direct) replace the usual spoken chorus, with the people dance frenziedly with hands-in-the-air delirium, undulating as a mass like a rock concert mosh pit to try to persuade the gods to bring them rain. But none is forthcoming. These frantic, frenzied dance scenes to a thumping score of chants and wild drums, are hypnotic and build to a wild frenzy. When the rains do finally fall, the company thrash and sway in the cascading rain in an almost orgy of excitement and religious fervour. Inspired and weirdly compelling.
