Consideration 3 - Oedipus and the Modern Audience SD PDF

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Topic: Oedipus and the Modern Audience...

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Dr. David Fenema History of Theatre I 17 September 2018 Consideration 3: Oedipus for the Modern Audience Personally, I found this scene from Oedipus Rex to be moving at times, and bizarre at others. Since I was aware that many of the odd parts of the play were due to keeping with the Greek tradition, I believe I was able to appreciate it more than a typical modern audience would. The masks are an example of something which is unfamiliar to a present-day audience member, but which would have been expected for the time it was originally performed. From a contemporary perspective, an audience member expects to spend most of the play watching the actors’ faces and observing their reactions. Since this adaption takes away facial expressions, choosing to opt for a vocal focus, a modern audience would likely feel alienated from the characters, which in turns prevents a suspension of disbelief. As the play went on, I found myself accepting the mask convention more and more, but it was rather off-putting at first. Back in the day, the Greek audience would have appreciated the voice as the star of the show. The actors utilize a more lyrical quality in their lines, often elongating vowels. They also play quite a bit with tempo, sometimes speaking slowly and monotonously, other times quickly and in a staccato manner. I doubt a modern audience would pay much attention to this fact, since they are used to a more realistic manner of speaking. The movement of the characters was another element foreign to today’s public. For instance, take the reaction of the crowd when the messenger first says that Jocasta is dead. The group of actors move as a unit, in a synchronized movement which resembles a dance. It seems too beautiful and coordinated to fit with our current understanding of grief. Throughout the scenes, there continue to be moments of synchronization, which would have made perfect sense in ancient Greek, but which seem contrived to a modern audience....