KARACHI: Given the enormity of the scale, it’s no mean feat to do a Greek tragedy on stage, let alone a play like Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It requires theatrical skill, understanding of the time the play is set in and at least reasonable familiarity with Greek mythology. The special presentation of Oedipus Rex by the third-year students of the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) evoked a mixed response at the Arts Council Theatre Karachi on Friday. The play, directed by Uzma Sabeen and choreographed by Sadia Khan, can be seen on Jan 8 at the same venue.It’s Urdu translation is done by Ahmed Aqeel Ruby. Oedipus (Adnan Jaffer) is the king of Thebes. Two decades ago, he was made king because he had saved his people from the pestilence caused by the riddling Sphinx. He is married to Jocasta (Samina Naz) because the monarch before him and Jocoasta’s husband Laius had already been killed by someone. As the play opens another pestilence is about to terrify the citizens, and they come to Oedipus so that he can once more save them. At this point Jocasta’s brother Creon (Akbar Islam) comes back from Apollo’s oracle suggesting that things can be rectified if it’s found out who killed Laius. Oedipus asks Tiresias, the blind seer, to find out about the former king’s killer. Tiresias says it’s Oedipus himself who’s the murderer, which the king takes as a conspiracy against him hatched by Creon to dethrone him. Jocasta intervenes between the two and tells Oedipus that prophecies can go wrong, and as an example she talks about an old prophecy that her son would kill his own father and marry his mother, that is, Jocasta. To ward off such a happening, she says, she and her former husband left their infant son in the mountains, and after some years Laius while going to Delphi was killed by robbers. After listening to this, Oedipus gets more restless, as he remembers killing a man at the very place when he left Corinth to prevent a similar prophecy.

At this juncture in the play a messenger arrives from Corinth, announcing the death of King Polybus, Oedipus’s father, and that Oedipus has now been elected king in his place. Oedipus says that keeping in mind another prophecy he can’t go back to Corinth until his mother passes away. This makes the messenger inform Oedipus that he’s not the biological son of Polybus and Merope, but was found in the mountains when someone from Laius’s place had left him there. The old shepherd whom Jocasta had asked to abandon the baby confirms the messenger’s claim. The prophecy is fulfilled in a rather calamitous way, with the result that Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus plucks his eyes out and meets his fate.

Perhaps it is unfair to criticise students for it might hamper their growth as future artists, but it is important to point out a few necessary points. All the actors must be praised for learning their lines well and a few instances of overlapping or speaking lines before their turn can be ignored. The problem with the production was that it was too linear and moved along only through verbal or dialogic exchange with the help of a script that oscillated from being pedantic (khameeda badan) to pedestrian (qatila ka ata pata). All the actors, barring Akbar Islam and a couple of performers who played the parts of citizens (or chorus), were monotonous and there was very little use of intonation in a sentence. The actress who did the role of Jocasta sounded like a housewife instead of someone who married not one but two kings. Then Oedipus’s last speech, after he hurts his eyes, was too long and could’ve been trimmed down to avoid the dragging effect. Acting is not just about learning your lines; it is also about understanding, nay feeling a character.

Apart from that it is sad that in the 21st century theatre-goers in Pakistan haven’t yet learnt how to turn off the ringer of their cell phones. They can at least switch them off.— Peerzada Salman