Who Is Oedipus Rex?

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Oedipus Rex starts out with an actor explaining to us what we shall expect and what we should believe. He explains that the cameras act as our portal as if we were seeing this play in 405 B.C.E, he is the first use of our suspended disbelief in this play. The acting is over-the-top, the costume is period accurate for Greek Theatre, and the chorus slowing the events of the play; are a few of the other forms of suspended disbelief we should have during this play. The over the top acting would have been essential in ancient Greece, the amphitheater they acted in carried their voices well, but for those to see in the very back row in the stadium that holds 14000 people their actions had to be over the top arm gestures and bellowing voices that carried even farther…show more content…
Like many Greek plays the chorus is the one who keeps the audience interested and helps the play move along. The chorus in Oedipus Rex are the first things we see other than the actor giving a synopsis of what we are going to see. The chorus is going to give us the summary of what has happened so far in Thebes. They come out in a large group, and lay out who we are waiting for and the background of Oedipus and Jocasta. Giving us the facts that Laius went out on a journey and never came back, Oedipus saved Thebes from the Sphinx and became the king. They try to speak in time, and basically in monotone, I believe the words are hard on the ears because they do not begin and end all at the same time. While this gives echo to the words they are saying, it is somewhat difficult to comprehend what they say. The chorus does lead the direction of the play. I remember a part of the play where the chorus took a long time to get off the stage because Oedipus needed time to contemplate if he had fulfilled the prophecy he had heard of his life. There was a point in the play where the chorus moved into a corner while Oedipus was screaming, showing fear and cowering in the
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