Latest news with #Oedipus'
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Manhunt' Is a Case Study in Fragile Masculinity
One of the largest manhunts in British police history took place in northeastern England in summer 2010. The fugitive was Raoul Moat, a 37-year-old bodybuilder and former nightclub bouncer with a history of violence. He had just been released from prison when he shot Samantha Stobbart, his former girlfriend, and her new boyfriend, Chris Brown, in a jealous rage. Stobbart survived, Brown didn't. The next day, Moat fired a sawed-off shotgun at a police officer, David Rathband, at point-blank range, blinding him. While he was on the run, Moat reportedly vowed to 'keep killing police until I am dead.' The story was a rolling news sensation at the time. Moat was a clear and present danger, and the situation was fluid. But sheer scale of the police operation to track him down — involving more than 100 armed officers and a military aircraft — was unusual by British standards. The manhunt ended when, after a six-hour standoff with the police, Moat turned his gun on himself. In the weeks after his death, Moat was celebrated as a folk hero in some corners of the internet, and was lauded for what was seen as uncompromising machismo. A Facebook page in his honor amassed 35,000 members. The cast of 'Manhunt.' Alongside Edward-Cook, center, a small ensemble plays multiple parts. Credit... Manuel Harlan A bracing new play, 'Manhunt,' at Royal Court Theater in London presents Moat's story as a case study in fragile masculinity. Written and directed by Robert Icke — whose recent West End 'Oedipus' is heading to Broadway — it takes the form of an imagined trial in which Moat, speaking from beyond the grave, both re-enacts and reflects on the terrible events of the last week of his life. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Euronews
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
2025 Olivier Awards: Roald Dahl's dark side and Benjamin Button win big
ADVERTISEMENT American actor John Lithgow won the Best Actor trophy at the London stage Olivier Awards on Sunday for exploring the dark side of children's writer Roald Dahl in 'Giant.' The star of Conclave and the future Professor Dumbledore in the new HBO Harry Potter remake added the Olivier to an awards shelf that already includes multiple Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe trophies. Scroll down for the full list of winners. In Mark Rosenblatt's play, he depicts the author of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", which confronts Dahl's antisemitic views. 'I think I'm going to faint,' said an emotional Lithgow, 79. While accepting his award, he appeared to reference the current controversy over Donald Trump's second term as US president , assuring Britons that the transatlantic "special relationship is still firmly intact.' 'It's not always easy to welcome an American into your midst, and at this particular moment, it's probably a little more complicated than usual,' he told the audience at the Royal Albert Hall. Giant was also named Best New Play, and Lithgow's co-star, English actor Elliot Levey, took Best Actor in a Supporting Role. John Lithgow wins Best Actor PA Elsewhere, the backwards-biographical story 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' - the musical based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that also inspired David Fincher 's 2008 movie starring Brad Pitt - was named Best New Musical at the awards, while acting legend Lesley Manville took the Best Actress prize for her performance as shocked royal spouse Jocasta in 'Oedipus.' Director Robert Icke's modern-day reimagining of the ancient Greek tragedy was named Best Revival of a play. Lesley Manville wins Best Actress. PA Imelda Staunton won the fifth Olivier of her career, Best Actress in a Musical, for 'Hello, Dolly!', while Best Actor in a Musical went to John Dagleish as the titular man who ages in reverse in 'Benjamin Button.' Here is the full list of winners of the 2025 Olivier Awards: New Play: 'Giant' New Musical: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' New Entertainment or Comedy: 'Titanique' Family Show: 'Brainiac Live' Revival: 'Oedipus' Musical Revival: 'Fiddler on the Roof' Actress-Play: Lesley Manville, 'Oedipus' Actor-Play: John Lithgow, 'Giant' Actress-Musical: Imelda Staunton, 'Hello, Dolly!' Actor-Musical: John Dagleish, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' Supporting Actor-Play: Elliot Levey, 'Giant' Supporting Actress-Play: Romola Garai, 'The Years' Supporting Actress-Musical: Maimuna Memon, 'Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812' Supporting Actor-Musical: Layton Williams, 'Titanique' Director: Eline Arbo, 'The Years' Outstanding Musical Contribution: Darren Clark and Mark Aspinall, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' Theater Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon, 'MJ The Musical' New Opera Production: 'Festen' Outstanding Achievement in Opera: Allan Clayton, 'Festen' New Dance Production: 'Assembly Hall' Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Eva Yerbabuena, 'Yerbagüena' Set Design: Tom Scutt, 'Fiddler on the Roof' Lighting Design: Paule Constable and Ben Jacobs, 'Oliver!' Sound Design: Nick Lidster, 'Fiddler on the Roof' Costume Design: Gabriella Slade, 'Starlight Express' Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theater: 'Boys on the Verge of Tears,' Soho Theatre
Washington Post
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Winners of the 2025 Olivier Awards celebrating work on the London stage
LONDON — The winners of the 2025 Olivier Awards handed out Sunday for achievement in London theater, opera and dance: New Play: 'Giant' New Musical: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' New Entertainment or Comedy: 'Titanique' Family Show: 'Brainiac Live' Revival: 'Oedipus' Musical Revival: 'Fiddler on the Roof' Actress-Play: Lesley Manville, 'Oedipus'
New York Times
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Olivier Awards: ‘Fiddler on the Roof' Secures Most Nominations
A revival of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' the much-loved 1964 musical, received the most nominations on Tuesday for this year's Olivier Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Tonys. The show got 13 nods — seven more than any other musical or play — including best musical revival, where it is up against a production of 'Hello, Dolly!' starring Imelda Staunton, which ran at the London Palladium, as well as ongoing revivals of 'Oliver!' at the Gielgud Theater and 'Starlight Express' at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theater. Directed by Jordan Fein, 'Fiddler on the Roof' is a stripped-back version of the tale of a Jewish milkman in Czarist Russia who is marrying off his daughters against a backdrop of antisemitic pogroms. It received rave reviews when it opened last August at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater. (It transfers to the Barbican Center on May 24). Marianka Swain, writing in The Daily Telegraph, called the production 'a masterclass in balancing innovation with tradition.' Fein resisted the temptation to draw out the musical's parallels to contemporary events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine or surging antisemitism, Swain wrote. 'No need when they come through so powerfully anyway,' the reviewer added. Fein is nominated in the best director category, where he will face tight competition from the directors of three of the past year's most critically acclaimed plays: Nicholas Hytner for 'Giant,' about Roald Dahl's antisemitism, staged last year at the Royal Court and opening in April on the West End; Robert Icke for a version of 'Oedipus' that ran at Wyndham's Theater; and Eline Arbo for 'The Years,' running at the Harold Pinter Theater. 'The Years,' which tells the story of a Frenchwoman's life from early childhood to late-in-life affairs, has recently been the talk of London's theater scene, because numerous audience members have fainted during a scene in which she tries to give herself an abortion with a knitting needle. Both 'The Years' and 'Giant' secured five nominations and will compete for the coveted best new play award, alongside 'Kyoto,' about climate change negotiations, which is running at @sohoplace until May 3, and 'Shifters,' about two high school lovers who meet eight years after splitting up, which ran at the Duke of York's Theater. 'The Fear of 13,' a production starring Adrien Brody that ran at the Donmar Warehouse, makes up the best new play nominees. Brody secured a nomination in the best actor category for his performance as a man sentenced to death for a rape and murder that he did not commit. He will compete for that prize against Paapa Essiedu, for 'Death of England: Delroy' at @sohoplace; John Lithgow for his turn as Roald Dahl in 'Giant'; Mark Strong for his performance in the title role of 'Oedipus' at Wyndham's Theater; and Billy Crudup for 'Harry Clarke' at the Ambassadors Theater. The winners of this year's awards are scheduled to be announced on April 6 in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Another category likely to be closely watched is best actress, because it sees two competing Jocastas: Lesley Manville, nominated for 'Oedipus' at Wyndham's Theater; and Indira Varma, nominated for a different 'Oedipus' at the Old Vic Theater. Also nominated in that category are Heather Agyepong for 'Shifters,' Rosie Sheehy for 'Machinal' at the Old Vic, and Meera Syal for 'A Tupperware Of Ashes' at the National Theater.
New York Times
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Can Movie Stars Handle Greek Classics? London Is Finding Out.
At the Old Vic theater in London, a tenebrous stage is lit now and again with deep, yellowy-orange hues; at its center is a stark solar orb. The effect is soothing, like being gently woken by an enormous sunrise alarm. The setting is a drought-stricken Thebes and the play is a reimagining of Sophocles' tragedy, 'Oedipus Rex,' first performed around 429 B.C. and relevant as ever in our era of vainglorious leaders. King Oedipus, played by the movie star Rami Malek — best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 'Bohemian Rhapsody' — wants to figure out who killed his predecessor, Laius, in hopes that solving the mystery will bring an end to the drought. In the process, he stumbles upon a series of revelations that bear out the truth of the Oracle's infamous prediction: that he is destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother. In this production, running through March 29, the story is set in a featureless, vaguely postapocalyptic landscape and told through a blend of drama and dance. (The Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter shares the directorial credit with the Old Vic's artistic director, Matthew Warchus.) Between scenes, a chorus throws beautifully unsettling shapes to a soundtrack of moody electronic beats and pounding drums. The dancers' twitchy, convulsive movements and supplicatory body language evoke the plight of a suffering populace, but once the truth is out and the gods appeased, the rain comes and the chorus moves with unburdened grace under a glorious drizzle. (Set design is by Rae Smith, lighting by Tom Visser.) Malek's assertive drawl and blithe, can-do rhetoric carry hints of President Trump. ('Whatever the Oracle gives us. … I can work with that!') And Indira Varma brings a suitably regal poise to the role of Jocasta, who was long ago forced by Laius to abandon her baby. That child was Oedipus himself; he was rescued, adopted and went on to marry Jocasta. But Ella Hickson's script, adapted freely from Sophocles's original, is thin and occasionally clunky, and Malek struggles to breathe life into it. His anguish simply doesn't convince. When he learns that the mother of his children is actually his own mother, he summons only the rueful demeanor of someone who narrowly missed a subway train. This 'Oedipus' is visually arresting, but weak theater. In a scheduling oddity worthy of London's uneven bus service, The Old Vic's production was the second 'Oedipus' running in the city in the last few weeks. Robert Icke's adaptation, which recently closed at Wyndham's Theater, had originally been scheduled to run in 2020, but was postponed because of the pandemic. In contrast to Hickson's staging, Icke situated Sophocles' tale in a recognizably contemporary political milieu: It's election night, and the title character (Mark Strong) is anticipating a landslide victory. The action unfolds in a campaign room strewed with pizza boxes and placards; in the foreground, a large digital clock ticks an ominous countdown. (The set is by Hildegard Bechtler.) This Oedipus is a picture of sensitive, evolved masculinity. But his commitment to the truth undoes him when he becomes the subject of a birtherist smear. Rather than sweep it under the rug, he insists on clearing things up — with devastating consequences. Strong's statuesque aspect and plaintive bearing befit the tragic hero. With his tall, lean frame and shaven head, he is more silhouette than man. Lesley Manville's Jocasta dotes aggressively, suggesting a sublimated maternal impulse, or perhaps even unconscious knowledge of the terrible truth. In a risqué scene in which Oedipus performs cunnilingus on Jocasta under her skirt, her moans of pleasure — 'oh baby, baby, baby' — are an exquisitely ironic touch. Conceived in the wake of President Trump's 2016 election victory, Icke's 'Oedipus' doubles as a maudlin comment on the travails of center-left parties. As of 2025, it hasn't exactly dated. But the show is best enjoyed as pure theater. The protagonist's sheer obliviousness, and apparent decency, accentuate the pathos: 'Nobody slips anything past me,' Oedipus brags to his son — but the audience knows his whole existence has been a lie. Tension builds as the clock counts down and the pieces of back story slot into place like some cruel game of Tetris. While Malek toils as Oedipus at the Old Vic, another big-screen celebrity is making her West End debut in a lesser-spotted Sophocles play. Brie Larson, of 'Room' fame and, more recently, Disney's 'The Marvels,' plays the title character in 'Elektra,' plotting revenge after her mother, Clytemnestra (Stockard Channing), murders her father, Agamemnon. This production, in a new translation by Anne Carson, runs at the Duke of York's Theater through April 12. In it, a crew-cut Larson stalks the stage in a Bikini Kill vest and ripped jeans, declaiming into a hand-held mic, and a six-strong chorus moves the story along in bursts of harmonious song Whenever Larson has to say the word 'no,' she sings it, rather than speaking — a motif that emphasizes Elektra's implacable defiance. Her refusal to accept her mother's lover Aegisthus (Greg Hicks), out of respect for her father's memory, has resulted in her being ostracized from the family: In contrast to Elektra's punky get-up, the other members of the household appear in opulent fur coats. (The costumes are by Doey Lüthi.) Aside from the denouement — in which Elektra's long-lost brother Orestes (Patrick Vaill) returns to deliver Aegisthus's comeuppance — the play is largely uneventful. To offset this, the show's director, Daniel Fish — whose 'Oklahoma' was a hit on and Off Broadway before a favorable London transfer — gives the audience a mishmash of embellishments to puzzle over. A blimp hangs above the revolving stage. A gun on a tripod douses the performers with spray paint. Incongruous snatches of news audio play during a pivotal scene. Why? Channing's glibly nonchalant Clytemnestra feels apposite, and the verbal sparring between mother and daughter provides a welcome sprinkling of mirth. But the abstracted, bloodless deliveries of the other actors are less than engaging. Larson, for all her energy, has a weirdly perfunctory, one-note intensity. Larson hadn't trodden the boards in over a decade before taking on this role; Malek, similarly, hasn't been onstage since early in his career. Reflecting on this, alongside the recent disappointment of Sigourney Weaver's London 'Tempest,' we might draw the following conclusions: first, that theater acting and screen acting are not the same thing, and that someone might excel at one but not the other; and second, that something is amiss when producers are routinely enticing theatergoers with stardust, only to shortchange them.
