KARACHI, Jan 6: The third-year students of the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) will present the famous Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles on Jan 7 and 8 at the Arts Council theatre.

The play is directed by Uzma Sabeen and its Urdu translation is done by Ahmed Aqeel Ruby. The drama, performed in 429BC for the first time, is generally believed to be Sophocles’s masterpiece only seven of whose more than 100 plays, it is believed, have survived.

Speaking to Dawn, the director of Oedipus Rex, Uzma Sabeen, said: “This is the final project of Napa’s third-year students. We don’t see it as a commercial undertaking because it’s part of their academic projects. All over the world, academies do classical stuff as part of their repertory theatre.

“Also, we’re doing it for youngsters so that they should come and see a classical play performed by students of the academy. I’m myself a graduate of Napa and belong to the final batch of 2007. In 2009, I directed Lonely in Love,” she said.

Oedipus Rex, set in the ancient city of Thebes, is choreographed by Sadia Khan while the three protagonists in the drama — Oedipus, Jocasta and Creon — are played by Adnan, Samina Nazir and Akbar Islam, respectively.