Phillyist Reviews... Oedipus Kings

We all know the basic plot outline: it was prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father the king, and marry his mother, so he's taken away to be killed, but not actually killed. He's raised in another town but eventually returns to his homeland, where, unbeknownst to him at the time, the prophesy comes true.

Now that you've had a refresher course on the plot, let's drink. Let's drink a whole lot. In fact, every time something bad happens to Oedipus, let's make sure somebody drinks.

No, seriously. Or at least, that's the premise of To The Wall Productions' Oedipus Kings, a version of the classical play set to a version of the classical drinking game. (Portents or omens? Draw a card!) The format assures that not only will the audience be drunk by the end of the show, but so will the cast. It's all good fun: a great way to spend a Sunday or a Monday night when nothing else is going on.

That being said, the show wasn't as crazy or as rowdy as I had expected or hoped. The audience is invited to participate, sure, but it's obvious from the beginning that the cards are not randomly shuffled, but are instead placed in a very deliberate order to help the action of the show progress. It helps to keep things linear, but detracts from the spontaneity I had hoped to get from the show and reduces both the cast's need and their freedom to improvise. (In fact, most of the improvising was done at the top of the show, as the rules were explained by Chorine, as played by Krissy Schuck.) The acting talent was talented enough, but I wondered if they might have shone with a slightly more relaxed format.

Despite the fact, however, that the randomness in the show was actually carefully rehearsed, I enjoyed watching the tortured "Ed" (Rob Cutler) learn more and more of the truth about himself from the rest of the cast (Samantha Beedle, Maren Masino, and the absolutely hilarious Joshua S. Ray). I don't know if it was a fluke of the casting process, or author's intent, that made Kreon a pre-operative transgendered man, or that made the priest a drunken (African-American) Irishman, but these gimmicks were ultimately what made the show work in spite of its flaws.

Or maybe I'd just had too much to drink...

Image provided by To The Wall Productions.