Oedipus

Who are you?

That most basic question perplexes people, just as it did when Greek dramatist Sophocles wrote about the cursed king Oedipus two and a half millennia ago.

Marisha Triantafyllidou and Argyris Xafis star in "Music," an award-winning film by Angela Schanelec, whose work is the subject of a retrospective at the Greek Film Archive, on December 7-12. "Music" is loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus and was shot almost entirely in the Peloponnese, with a Greek crew and cast members.

Delving into the complex and ambiguous nature of fate and justice, director Giorgos Skevas presents Sophocles' thought-provoking play "Oedipus at Colonus" as part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival (aefestival.gr). This play aims to highlight the uncertain finale of Oedipus, a character profoundly affected by his destiny.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation presents the digital edition of its annual Summer Nostos Festival.

The "Oedipe Redux" project, a contemporary "re-envision" in a jazz key of Enescu's masterpiece, created by Romanian artist Lucian Ban and US violinist Mat Maneri, will be performed at the Europalia International Arts Festival, in a tour including five opera concerts in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, between 19-29 November 2019.

The Paramythias theater presents "Ismene," a production by Sofia Savvidou based on a poem by Yiannis Ritsos. One of Ritsos' perennial works, "Ismene" retells the myth of Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, through the point of view of her sister.

A pinnacle of ancient Greek tragedy, Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" tells the harrowing tale of a son struck by confounding misfortune when he unknowingly murders his father. The Ancient Theater of Epidaurus will present a new take on the drama, directed by Constantinos Markoulakis with music conducted by Minos Mastsas, as part of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival.

Acclaimed American director Robert Wilson rings in the start of the Greek Festival's section which draws from the classical playwrights with a bold interpretation of Sophocles' "Oedipus" at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus.

The last of Sophocles' three Theban plays, "Oedipus at Colonus," describes the end of the mythical king's tragic life and was written shortly before the ancient playwright's own death in 406/5 BC.

The National Theater of Northern Greece is back home after a summer tour with its production of the third play in Aeschylus' Oedipus-themed trilogy, "Seven Against Thebes," where the blind king's curse dooming his sons to divide the kingdom by the sword finally comes to pass.