Our production of Oedipus the Tyrant is not set in a specific place or time. Though the play mentions locations like Corinth and Thebes, specific to ancient Greece, our translation is taking creative liberties by redefining our landscape. We've mentioned several times now how the story of Oedipus is timeless and it's themes universal. While some theatre artists produce renditions of classic plays only to honor how it was done "originally," many emerging and scholarly artists are of the opinion that this practice is outdated.* Thus, we are taking Oedipus by the balls (or eyes) and putting our own spin on it.
The design aesthetic of Oedipus the Tyrant is an eastern fusion. Initially, butoh is how Natasha wanted to represent the chorus. From there, we began to explore other characters, namely the the title role. We realized that the silhouette Natasha wants Oedipus to have is that of an Indian groom. Then, Taylor and I branched out and assigned characters to different general surrounding regions. Also, our director envisioned all of the characters in white with varied accent colors. For example, all of the characters from Thebes may have differently designed costumes, but they will be loosely connected by the same color pallet. Characters from different regions hail from different parts of Asia and have different accented colors.
In the following blog posts, you'll see our rhyme and reason as to why we chose what we chose and I've provided image research as examples of how we see it. Nothing is set in stone, we're just trying to all get on the same page. In order to tie everything together, all costumes will be very toned down (compared to the gorgeously ornate outfits you'll in the pictures); none of the costumes we envision for our production will be as detailed or specific. For this reason, we've taken a liking to the phrase "silhouette" in order to describe a look.
NOTE: A similar and concise version of this post will be included in the program as a "Dramaturg's note" so that the audience is informed about our design aesthetic before the show even begins. This is not something they need to worry about or try to define. I'll explain it so they can just enjoy the show!
*Orgel's The Authentic Shakespeare is an invigorating read on this subject.
