This year in Humanities we studied Sophocle's play called Oedipus the King, so I took the opportunity to see the play produced live at Brigham young University in September. I did not appreciate or enjoy this play at all, at least in the beginning because of the feelings of dissonance and confusion I had, but now after studying the play in class I can look back and appreciate it more from a historical perspective.
I have never read any of the plays written by Sophocles or other famous ancient Greek playwrights, so I promptly purchased tickets with no expectations as to what the story was about. MY class would be studying this work of art in October so I thought it to be a good head start. The stage was set up like a proscenium theatre where the audience seating is directly in front on the stage. As we sat down I noticed the spectacle that made up the stage scenery, and it was very simple with three wooden frames painted in turquoise with engraved faces on them that looked as if they were screaming. This was all other than large sheets that hung from them that stood as the boundary between the outer doors of the palace in Thebes and the interior where most of the dialogue took place. .
As I was taking mental notes of the peculiar set, a man walked out in street clothes and began with a formal introduction, so I figured this must be the director of the play. He also gave a sort of exposition as to the story and what was going on in order to set the scene for the audience. There were few actors and they all wore strange masks or their faces were painted. I later learned that this was the way Greek Theatre did plays, so since understanding that later I can give credit to the creativity of the masks that the actors wore. All through the play they spoke in the poetic way that the plays were written and they did a wonderful job of doing that as well. .