Oedipus Loves You is a new work based on and inspired by the Oedipus the King plays of Seneca and Sophocles and the writings of Sigmund Freud. Oedipus Loves You opened in Smock Alley Theatre in October 2006

TEXT by Simon Doyle and Gavin Quinn.

Directed by: Gavin Quinn
Designed by Andrew Clancy
Lighting Design: Aedín Cosgrove

Music: Gordon is a Mime.

 CAST:

DERRICK DEVINE : Oedipus
GINA MOXLEY : Jocasta
NED DENNEHY : Teresias
RUTH NEGGA : Antigone
DYLAN TIGHE : Creon

The Oedipus Myth is part of our popular culture as well as our European heritage and is still deeply connected to contemporary living and modern day art practices. Its distinctiveness as a ‘super-plot' for theatrical presentation marks it as unique for creating new and real connections for any audience at any particular time in history. It is like a bible left in a hotel room drawer which changes meaning and context depending on whoever picks it up. In this project we intend to search for the most appropriate format and language to release its powerful energy for contemporary audiences.

Another aspect to the project is the exploration of sexual identity and our habit of distancing ourselves with selective amnesia from any true understanding of each other - mostly for self-preservation rather that out of neglect. In this performance a process of self–identification will take place for the audience and performers. Alternatively the ritual of not being identified may also simultaneously take place where irony is turned in on itself and we discover everything and nothing, which is the true power and necessity of myth and its application as a discourse in situations like performance.

Oedipus Loves You is a performance looking at the historical curiosity of the Oedipus Myth and its relevance for our anxious age, and the reflection of our own fears in Oedipus' situation. It is an exploration of the violation of taboos in our society, which we observe almost every day but are unsure of reacting to at the moment of discovery of the truth. The project asks the question - are we still more interested in survival than truth, at this particular juncture of our evolutionary psychological state?

The performance will contain live music played by the actors and will have a real blood and guts atmosphere as well as a use
of aesthetics more associated with the visual arts. What is essential in the work, will be a real sense of dramatic tension surrounding the 'family' and the taboo subject of sexuality within the family politick.
The performance will follow the super plot of Oedipus Rex and some of Antigone in a fresh and original text but will be enveloped in many
different normal truths about normal life. The setting or environment would be a kind of contemporary, imaginary suburbia inhabited by
characters called , Oedipus, Antigone, Creon, Terisias and Jocasta who act out the story of a 'complicated' family history.

Other relevant  details surrounding the performance involve the use of a kind remote-control acting for the performers where
they are controlled or fed by me as a live director through a radio head set system which each of the actors wear, which on its most basic level will create another tier of 'liveness' to the proceedings and on a deeper level will intimate many connotations concerning destiny, actions and behaviour central to the Oedipus Myth/Complex.

***Gavin Quinn Pan Pan 2006