Anticipation is a Motherf*cker
We all know how “Oedipus” ends, but Robert Icke’s new Broadway production still gets under your skin.
It’s an uphill battle to get your audience on the edge of their seats when they already know the ending of the show. Yet Robert Icke’s modern adaption of “Oedipus” is able to keep us on our toes even when we know what’s coming.
“Oedipus,” now playing on Broadway at Studio 54, reimagines Oedipus (Mark Strong) as a political candidate of an unnamed country on election night. The show opens with a full-stage video of him speaking to adoring fans. He makes two promises: he’ll investigate the death of his predecessor (who also happens to be his wife’s ex-husband) and produce his original birth certificate.
Knowing the fate of Oedipus, as many of us do, we know these are promises he should not make. A blind prophet, now reimagined as a member of a modern cult, breaks into Oedipus’s campaign office to tell us so. Oedipus, he says, has unknowingly killed his father and will have sex with his mother.
Spoiler alert. Sort of.
With a show based on a historic Greek myth, there’s no plot twist to surprise us with. The ending is clear, the truth spoken plain—although chaotically—before us. Yet Icke is able to keep us incredibly anxious and tense, until and through the final moments.
The anticipation is first actualized through the show’s design. After the video speech, we’re thrust into a gray, barebones office space that Oedipus has worked out of during his campaign. At the center is a countdown: starting at an hour and 38 minutes, red seconds beating at the back of every scene.
It’s supposed to be counting down to when the polls close on election night. But with our knowledge, we also know something much, much worse will come when the clock strikes 0:00.
It’s a simple trick that gives a new tone to every scene. In the happiest moments—Oedipus and his wife and family, celebrations that he has an early lead—the clock is there, ticking, reminding us that it’ll all be over soon.
The beauty of this production is its stark contrast between that foreshadowing and the happiness of its relationships. Core to that is the marriage between Oedipus and his wife, Jacosta (Lesley Manville), who are energetic and playful together, stern and supportive with their children: daughter Antigone (Olivia Reis) and sons Polyneices (James Wilbraham) and Eteocles (Jordan Scowen). (The use of multiple older Greek names in a modern context is jarring, but doesn’t fully take us out of it).
Strong and Manville create a marriage that feels so lived-in and warm that we become emotionally complicit in wanting to protect it.
It’s a functional, loving partnership born after a tragedy. Manville is superb in a long monologue about her former marriage, which was, to put it lightly, quite the opposite experience. It’s a reflection of an older woman who hasn’t particularly come to terms with her traumatic past, yet continues to show up each day determined to write a new life for herself with her new husband. Strong is steady and sure in response. We get to see the whole picture of their dynamic: the fun, playful physicality; tough love parenting; unwavering support.
With such a genuine dynamic, it’s hard to believe Jacosta would wait so long—after years and years of marriage—to tell her husband about her past. They are otherwise so open, so loving. It’s the place where the modernization of the myth requires some more gymnastics. We have to accept that a wife wouldn’t investigate her ex-husband’s death more thoroughly, that a baby would be abandoned in the woods in modern day, or that all of these secrets would stay buried until the final night of a political campaign forced them to come to a head. When you adapt Greek tragedy, where gods and oracles drive the plot, into a recognizably human world, coincidence has to do the heavy lifting.
But Icke makes a smart choice: he doesn’t try to make the plot holes disappear. He makes us stop caring about them, and instead care deeply about the relationships between these characters.
We find the marriage so genuine that we end up rooting for them. Maybe the story won’t turn out this time, the way we know it does. Maybe the horrifying ending we know isn’t coming for them. We can hope. We can only hope.
And when it does end as planned, it is as heartbreaking as it is unnerving. Even though we knew what was coming all along.
How to See “Oedipus” on Broadway
“Oedipus” runs on Broadway at Studio 54 until February 8th.
How I found out about it: Would you believe marketing works! I’d seen social media ads, gotten emails, and some direct mail.
Why I went: I’d seen a lot of buzz on TikTok, and my grandparents are Roundabout members and wanted to see the show together.
How I got tickets: Aforementioned lovely grandparents. Probably for the better, my sister and I had tickets in a different section, which meant we were able to discuss the unnerving aspects post-show rather than watch right next to them. Tess was a perfect person to watch this next to. Every time they did a cheeky bit of foreshadowing, I nudged her; I also think I held onto her arm for the last 25 minutes of the show in pure panic.
How to get cheap(er) tickets: The show has a daily $45 digital rush on TodayTix. Tickets also start around $55-60 on most ticketing sites.
What Else I’ve Been Posting, Writing, Listening To...
I made two resolutions for 2026: post on TikTok about theater every day and write a Substack post once a week.
I have kept up the TikTok resolution! It’s been a fun challenge and people have commented that they’re now going to see specific shows because of the cheaper theater hacks I’ve shared—which is quite literally the dream.
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As it’s the 16th and this is my first Substack of the year…we’re falling a bit behind on that one. January has been a slow theater season for me; “Oedipus” is the only show I’ve seen so far.
Here’s what I’m excited about next:
“Chess,” as I do need to see (the love of my life) Aaron Tveit
“Data,” a Silicon Valley thriller that I expect to be similar to “Job”
Potentially “Bug,” Carrie Coon’s return to Broadway in her husband’s play
And if you listen to one thing this weekend, let it be Joshua Henry’s vocals in the newly released “Ragtime” Broadway cast album. Thank me later.