Who is popular today?

Wyndham’s theatre, LondonOpening in a campaign room on election night, Robert Icke’s modern retelling is riveting from beginning to end, the formidable leads supported by a stellar ensemble castIt begins with a birth certificate. A politician standing for election promises to prove his origins to the nation after his opponent has questioned them (a dig at Donald Trump in relation to Barack Obama’s heritage?). Even so, he questions the nativist idea that birth is crucial to belonging.Of course, the ancient Greek drama on which Robert Icke’s play is based is all about origins and the tragedy of Oedipus’s cursed birth. Icke has modernised Sophocles’ story but kept the ancient names. The statesman, Oedipus, is intent on truth-telling and full disclosure but it is just this that leads to his downfall.At Wyndham’s theatre, London, until 4 January Continue reading...