Oedipus Machina at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

Although McLaughlin's acclaimed Oedipus is contemporary in feel and language, Sossi's vision sets the action in some ancient and mysterious civilization — is it Aztec, Incan or Egyptian? Or perhaps there's a hint of the unearthly about it? "The story is ancient, archetypal — it could happen anywhere," says Sossi. "We've renamed it Oedipus Machina because the central image will be a machine that represents the intrepid and relentless movement of fate." A plague grips the city of Thebes. Desperate to save his people, King Oedipus sends a messenger to the oracle at Delphi and discovers that the city's salvation lies in finding and punishing the murderer of the former king, Laius, who was brutally slain by a stranger at a crossroads years ago. When Oedipus orders a manhunt, he unknowingly sets the wheels of his own destruction in motion. There are multiple versions of the Oedipus myth, which was dramatized more often than any other legend and is second only to the Trojan War as a subject for Greek epic poetry. Some thirteen different Greek authors, including Aeschylus and Euripides, are known to have written plays on the subject — but only the Sophocles drama has survived.