Rami Malek and Indira Varma in Oedipus [Manuel Harlan]

IT’S an inspired choice to use the Hofesh Shechter Dance company as a Greek chorus in the latest London production of Oedipus.

Their writhing, frenetic movement, set to choreographer Shechter’s exhilarating music, emphasises the ritualistic elements of Sophocles’ tragedy while, in turn, evoking an unruly mob and our own helplessness in the face of a climate crisis.

When Thebes is beset by drought, King Oedipus (Rami Malek) urges his people to move to fertile ground. But the oracle decrees that if the murderer of old King Laius is found and punished they will be saved. As the man who solved the riddle of the sphinx, Oedipus is confident he can find the perpetrator and bring salvation.

He is caught between the pragmatism of his wife Jocasta (Indira Varma) and her theocratic brother Creon (Nicholas Khan), who claims that the drought is symptomatic of the gods’ wrath. The blind seer, Tiresias (Cecilia Noble), is duly called upon and, fuelling Oedipus’s search for the truth, sets the tragedy in motion.

Based on Ella Hickson’s spare adaptation, co-directed by Matthew Warchus and Shechter, this breathtaking production relies on spectacle, rather than emotional depth. The dancing is mesmerising while Rae Smith’s stark set and Tom Visser’s thrilling lighting add to the otherworldly atmosphere.

Warchus and his team concentrate on the bigger picture. Inevitably, the lead actors are eclipsed by the production values (and, dare I say it, the dance troupe), but I liked Malek’s awkward, almost self-effacing king, complemented by Varma’s no-nonsense Jocasta (despite their lack of sexual chemistry). Khan’s devious Creon and Noble’s irascible soothsayer also impress.

until March 29
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