2006 Season - Genesius Guild

Aeschylus: "Seven Against Thebes" & Sophocles: "Antigone"

The second production brings full circle the ancient tale of Oedipus, a man fated to murder his father and marry his mother: crimes foretold at his birth and committed unwittingly as he was doing his best to avoid this fate.

The first part of the legend, Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” was produced in 2004. The second play - also by Sophocles - “Oedipus At Colonus,” in 2005, brought Oedipus’ unhappy life to a glorious end, even as it predicted unhappiness for his sibling-children.

This season, the saga concludes with two plays joined together: “Seven Against Thebes” by Aeschylus and “Antigone” by Sophocles.

The first is a brief explanation of the battle for Thebes between Oedipus’ sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, and their mutual deaths. The second is a clash of wills between Oedipus’ daughter, Antigone, and his half-brother, Creon, new ruler of the city. This play has long been considered one of the most important statements of the antagonism between politics and religion. It is also the very first play to be presented by the guild in 1957. Both dramas will be presented in mask, continuing the guild’s long - and unique - approach to these classics.