OEDIPUS AT FDR AT THE 2008 PHILADELPHIA LIVE ARTS FESTIVAL IS SOLD OUT! GO THE THE LIVE ARTS FESTIVAL LINK FOR MORE INFO.
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Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey brings Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus to an urban amphitheatre: the concrete jungle of FDR skate park. Against a backdrop of shipyards, highway overpasses, and the explosive graffiti imagery covering the surfaces of the park, a chorus of skateboarders will tell the tragedy of the blind king in exile. Oedipus at FDR revives the ancient Greek tradition of staging theater outdoors and re-wires it for the contemporary imagination. Join the cast of characters in an old school rave ambiance where you can meet the oracle and have your fortune divined, indulge your senses, and surrender to grief at the funeral dance party. With original text by Suli Holum, and sound design by James Sugg, Oedipus at FDR draws on the unique theatricality of skateboarding to explore ancient and modern notions of truth, judgment, and the mystery of death.
The Project
This project is an adaptation of Oedipus at Colonus, a site-specific work
that reinvents Sophocles’s Greek classic in a landscape of danger and
urban tragedy: the concrete jungle of the FDR skatepark in South
Philadelphia. Against the skatepark’s backdrop of shipyards, freeways,
and railroads, an ensemble of professional actors and a chorus of
inner-city skateboarders will present classical tragedy in the urban
jungle. Reviving the ancient Greek tradition of staging tragedy at an
annual outdoor festival, Oedipus at Colonus will be presented as part of
the 2008 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. At a time when national and global events seem more and more beyond our
control, Oedipus myth of the power of fate and destiny seems more
relevant than ever. Can we escape our destiny? What would it be like
to know the future? Is there another way of facing fate than running
as Oedipus ran? What can humans truly do in the face of mysterious
higher powers and authorities? On their way into the show, audience
members will have the chance to explore these themes individually
through tarot card and I Ching readings in booths set up in the park.
Audiences will then consider their own destinies as they witness
Oedipus’ unfolding struggle and mysterious death.
Oedipus’ death brings up more questions. How, in our society, do we
perceive death? How is death presented, on TV, in the movies, in the
news? Do our deaths condemn us or finally give sense to our lives? Is
death a threat we all fear? In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus
mysteriously disappears, as if absorbed by the air of the foreign land
in which he dies. Is death a foreign country? To celebrate Oedipus’
passage to the beyond, the audience will be treated to a post-show dance
party featuring local Philly DJ talents, fire-throwers, and
death-defying skateboard tricks.
Collaborators on this project will include music director James Sugg,
lighting designer Mark O’Malley, writer Suli Holum, co-director Lars
Jan, and skating consultant Joshua Nims. We will attempt to confront
the Oedipus myth with our modern aesthetic in a wild urban amphitheatre.
The play’s chorus will include seven skateboarders who will both skate
and perform the classical text. We will look at slam poetry to discover
new ways of speaking Sophocles’s text. The sound design will be
inspired by electronic beats and trance music—the music of the mythical
rave parties of the 1990’s that tried to renew Dionysus rituals.
Creating this work enables me to continue my research on audience
participation. Madame Douce-Amere, my last production, was an intimate
journey: the small, 80-person audience was invited by the character to
open up and participate. Since the skatepark has a capacity of 200
people and is an anonymous setting, it imposes a very different
relationship between audience and performer. Audiences at Oedipus at
Colonus will have the chance to design their own experience.
Finally, because I will be working with skateboarders as well as actors,
Oedipus at Colonus will be an opportunity for me to collaborate with and
create new encounters between completely different parts of Philadelphia
society. Which I think is essential to create new and exciting work!
