Laura Leffler-McCabe and Cast

According to the Oedipus myth, Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes, receive a prophecy that they will have a son fated to kill his father and marry his mother. When a son is born to them, Laius orders the baby killed in order to thwart the prophecy. However, the child survives and is raised by a Corinthian couple as Oedipus.

Knowing nothing of his origins, Oedipus learns of the prophecy on his head, and believes that it refers to his adoptive Corinthian parents. Wanting to avoid his fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth. On the road, he encounters Laius, traveling in the guise of a poor old man. A quarrel ensues and Oedipus kills Laius. After entering Thebes, Oedipus is named king by virtue of solving the riddle of the Sphinx, and weds the queen, Jocasta, just as the oracle foretold.

Sophocles' play begins at this point in the saga, with the preceding back-story revealed but not depicted. The drama spins out from Oedipus' gradual discovery of the truth, his growing agony and final actions as all is laid bare. Jocasta is a secondary player; when she takes her life, it is presented as further tragedy to be borne by Oedipus.

These Are the Men tells the story as experienced by Jocasta from its beginning. It imagines Jocasta forced against her wishes to marry her brother Creon's boastful friend Laius; her fear of Laius' temper and lust; her despair and fury at having her infant son taken from her; fruitless efforts to strike a bond with Laius when he returns after a two year absence; relief upon learning of Laius's death; the passion she feels toward her new, young husband Oedipus; her maternal instincts toward the four children she has by Oedipus; intimations of sexual feelings between Jocasta and Creon; and overarching all, intuitive knowledge that her life is a journey toward doom, one that she is powerless to prevent.

Throughout, Oedipus, Laius, and Creon all act on the belief that fate can be harnessed through their efforts, that they can make their own fate. These are the men who make the decisions by which Jocasta must endure her life. They have power, she has none. Yet, all the while, she knows that fate cannot be stopped. It can only be embraced. Her life is a parade of agony, with fleeting moments of joy, as in the bliss she feels in marriage to Oedipus, but always in the shadow of the fate she knows must swallow her in time.

Jocasta's story unfolds back and forth in time. Audience members lacking prior knowledge of Oedipus might be at a disadvantage to know what is going on, though eventually the full narrative takes shape. There are numerous devices used to augment the action—silhouetted images behind a screen that reveal the future, super-amplified, echoed voices for the oracle Pythia and Demigod Tiresias; ritualized responses to their pronouncements; periodic sonic booms that shake Jocasta as if the ground were about to swallow her whole. Such devises maintain audience interest, but confuse more than illuminate, as it is often not clear what point is being made or where they fit on the ever-shifting time continuum. At times it feels like we are given too much to absorb, a host of input without a singular lens through which to observe it.

There are strong scenes that reveal character—for example, Laius and Creon boastfully drinking together after a successful campaign, sounding much like a couple of football players celebrating after a gridiron win. Scenes with the four children born to Jocasta and Oedipus are especially well drawn, capturing the language and behavior of siblings who are both devoted to one another and rivals. Their games, in which they act out their own understanding of reality, and reveal personal secrets, ring with total truth, giving credit both to the writers and the actors. Similarly well-crafted are scenes where these children begin to harbor adult feelings and challenges. These scenes also are among the sparse points of humor in the play.

All of the actors bring enormous conviction to their roles. Laura Leffler-McCabe gives an immersive performance as Jocasta, ranging from fearfully recoiling from Laius, to barely resisting Creon's touch to lustfully approaching Oedipus as her husband, to total abandonment to the doom foretold by the oracle. She is a raging torrent of emotions, so that even without a precipitous fate, she might consume herself through the force of her feelings.

Nick Wolf, as Oedipus, is the voice of paternal love and civic reason, undone by the truth that he thought he could put behind him. Laius is portrayed by Daniel Ian Joeck as a self-satisfied braggart, who cannot imagine a world beyond his control. Michael Ooms balances his portrait of Creon between wisdom concerning the true nature of things, with the ability to obscure the truth when it serves his needs. Heidi Jedlicka Halvarson (Ismene), Mason Mahoney (Polynices), Russ Dugger (Iteocles), and Alana Horton (Antigone) are the wonderfully portrayed children of Oedipus and Jocasta, each creating a vibrant character.

Blake E. Bolan's direction keeps things moving briskly, and creates numerous evocative stage pictures. The production makes full use of the entire stage at the Southern Theater, with stairs leading to a raised center platform providing definition for various locations. Jim Eischen's lighting design paints the stage with shades of illumination to reflect the characters' states of mind. The ambitious sound design by Ted Moore provides rumbles, roars, and fearsome voices, though for all the effort, these effects seem just that ... effects, rather than organic parts of the story. The costumes have the appearance of ancient garb as it pieced together from thrift shop items and bolts of fabric, with the exception of Oedipus, who wears contemporary business dress. This is clearly intended to set him apart, though since the play is focused on Jocasta's story, and not his, it is hard to grasp the point of this distinction.

Savage Umbrella planted the seeds of These Are the Men seven years ago when it began as five short scenes. It has endeavored to develop this work, with the notion that through Jocasta's mind's eye we gain a very different understanding of this tragedy. The work succeeds in that point, that we see things differently. What is lacking is a clarity to that vision. With further development of text, and perhaps paring away some of the effects to focus, These Are the Men may be able to achieve clarity along with the passion it already fully conveys.

These Are the Me was produced by Savage Umbrella between March 14 and April 18, 2015, in rotation with other productions under the banner of Art Share, at the Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis. For information about future Savage Umbrella productions visit www.SavageUmbrella.org.

Writers: Blake E Bolan and Laura Leffler-McCabe; Created by Savage Umbrella ensemble; Director: Blake E. Bolan; Set Design: Brian Proball; Costume Design: Heidi Jedlicka Halvarson, Mason Mahoney, Laura Leffler-McCabe; Lighting Design: Jim Eischen; Sound Design: Ted Moore; Properties Design: Heidi Jedlicka Halvarson, Laura Leffler-McCabe; Stage manager: Jessica Spivey; Dramaturg: Megan Clark; Production Manager: Tanner Curl; Assistant Set Designer: Travis Collins

Cast: Lisa Brimmer (Tiresias), Russ Dugger (Iteocles), Heidi Jedlicka Halvorson (Ismene), Hannah K. Holman (Pythia), Alana Horton (Antigone), Daniel Ian Joeck (Laius), Foster Johns (Hyperbius, Democritus, Shepherd, Polybus), Laura Leffler-McCabe (Jocasta), Mason Mahoney (Polynices), Michael Ooms (Creon), Siddeeqah Shabazz (Irene, Agatha, Merope), Nick Wolf (Oedipus).

Photo: Carl Atiya Swanson

- Arthur Dorman

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