Along with Antigone, Oedipus Rex, based on the Theban myths of Greek mythology, is Sophocles' best-known and most performed tragedy.
Oedipus receives a prophecy: he will kill his own father and marry his own mother, who will bear him children... In this ancient psycho-thriller, Thebes is ravaged by an epidemic, which will only be eradicated, if the murderer of the former great king is found. Oedipus sets out to investigate - his own case, as it turns out. The prophecy is fulfilled. King Oedipus is both father and brother to his own children, son and husband to his own mother, and the murderer of his father, the former ruler of Thebes. Oedipus's wife (and mother) commits suicide, and he gouges out his own eyes...
"If we examine the socio-political conditions of the declining Golden Age of antiquity, we can see the extent to which they are in line with the processes and events of the present day. Oedipus became a symbol of destined sinfulness. At the beginning, he is a politician through and through, and by the end of the play, he becomes human in the noble sense of the word, losing everything. History can teach us a lot - if we are willing to learn. Oedipus is, perhaps, a metaphor for everything: a social system chasing its tail that, under the guise of extending democracy, is destroying democracy instead,” says director Vito Taufer.
Section: MITEM+
Slovenian director. Born in 1959, he graduated from the Academy of Theatre and Film in Ljubljana in 1985. Since 1989, he has been the in-house director of the Slovenian Youth Theatre (Slovensko Mladinsko Gledalisce) in Ljubljana. As a young man, he was dubbed the Little Prince of Yugoslav theatre, and is today considered one of the most exciting theatre-makers. His productions are characterised by pop iconography and parallel dramaturgy. He has won the Sterija, Preseren, Borstnikov and MESS Awards.
Founded in 1947; the plan was to compose a company out of the most outstanding actors of all major theatre communities and cultural centres in Yugoslavia, e.g. Belgrade, Zagreb, Novi Sad, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Split; modelled on Moscow's Art Theatre. The first artistic director was theatre director and designer Bojan Stupica. The theatre's heyday was in the 1970s and '80s. It burnt down in October 1997, during the Yugoslav war, and it took six years to rebuild, but meanwhile, the company continued to perform. The new theatre opened in 2003, with Jovan Sterija Popović's play Patriots. Since 2006, the theatre has been a member of UTE (Union des Théâtres de l'Europe), and is a founding member of NETA (New European Theatre Action).
