Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

Oedipus Rex

January 1957 •English

The story of Oedipus' gradual discovery of his primal crime, killing his father and marrying his mother, filmed by the famed British theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie. This elegant version of Sophocles' play adds a brilliant stroke: the actors wear masks just as the Greeks did in the playwright's day.

Beyond Tragedies

March 2022 •Portuguese

Recalling his childhood and relationship with his mother, a film student tries to understand the origin of his love for cinema and tragedies.

Le Supplici di Eschilo - Teatro greco di Siracusa

June 2015 •Italian

“The Suppliants of Aeschylus were part of a trilogy consisting of Supplicants, Sons of Egypt and Danaids, followed by a satyr drama Amirnon. It was first performed at the Theater of Dionysus in Athens, probably in 463 BC."

Medea

January 1970 •Italian

Based on the plot of Euripides' Medea. Medea centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed her for another woman.

Antigone

April 2021 •English

Antigone asks the question of the difference between the spirit of the Law and the letter of the Law. This elemental ancient play about - honor, loyalty, love, betrayal and conviction - resonates as sharply and as damning today as it did when it was written 2,500 years ago.

Medea

March 1963 •Swedish

Medea is a powerful witch who gets revenge on her cheating husband Jason by killing their children.

Constance

May 1985 •English

Constance is a bored, movie-loving schoolteacher in post-WW2 New Zealand who begins to fantasize that she's a Hollywood star - with tragic consequences.

Funeral Parade of Roses

September 1969 •Japanese

In 1960s Tokyo, Gonda owns a bar in which the gay, cross-dresser, and trans scenes meet. Gonda is in a relationship with the madam of the bar, Leda. As the younger Eddie starts a passionate affair with Gonda, she ignites the jealousy of Leda, unaware of another kind of history between them.

Prometheus

July 2015 •Greek

This is a film of the 2013 Cambridge Greek Play production of Prometheus, presented at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Greek Gossip

November 2020 •English

In a world where Greek mythology is reality, Ben, a lonely reporter, finds his morals swayed by his desperation for affection.

The Trojan Women

May 1971 •English

In the aftermath of the Trojan Wars, Queen Hecuba takes stock of the defeated kingdom. Her son has been killed, and his widow, Andromache, is left to raise their son, Astyanax, alone. Hecuba's daughter, Cassandra, fears being enslaved by her Greek masters, while Helen of Troy risks being executed. Astyanax also becomes the focus of the Greeks' attention as the last male heir of the Trojan royal family.

Electra

May 1962 •Greek

Living in exile after the death of their father, the grown children of a murdered and usurped king converge to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge.

Phaedra

May 1962 •English

A modern retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. The young and fiery second wife of an extremely wealthy shipping magnate meets her estranged stepson Alexis and sparks immediately fly. Their love seems doomed from the beginning when she convinces him to come to Paris to meet his father.

Ο ΓΟΛΓΟΘΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΖΕΥΓΟΥΣ

December 2024 •Greek

Kinds of Kindness

May 2024 •English

A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One

July 2015 •Portuguese

Scheherazade narrates three more tales, supposedly selected from the 470th, 484th and 497th nights of her ordeal: “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a Judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Guard while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad!

In the Darkness of the Night

October 2004 •Portuguese

A disturbing film about the Portuguese underworld of prostitution.

Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus

September 1986 •English

Oedipus's wanderings come to an end when he finds his final resting place, as foretold by the gods. But his brother-in-law and his son each try to take him away.

Theban Plays: Antigone

September 1986 •English

In a final battle for the control of Thebes, Oedipus's two sons kill each other. Creon issues an order that no one is to bury Polynices upon pain of death. But Antigone is determined that her brother's body will have the proper rites of burial.

ITA Live: Oedipus

March 2021 •English

It is election night. Oedipus is on the verge of a massive victory. The country has not known a leader for many years since Laius' death. The ambitions are great. Oedipus wants to create a future, create a new way of life. He also insists, if elected, that the investigation into the death of his predecessor is reopened. In the meanwhile, in the half-empty campaign headquarters, Oedipus is surprised by his family - mother, wife and children - with a dinner. An old incident is thereby brought up. Gradually, Oedipus discovers that his past is very different from what he has always thought. During his research, the pieces of the puzzle fall together. Oedipus tries to control his fate, but discovers that he has been seeing blind all along.