Film adaptions
The first English-language adaption, Oedipus Rex (1957), was directed by Tyrone Guthrie and starred Douglas Campbell as Oedipus. In this version, the entire play is performed by the cast in masks (Greek: prosopon), as actors did in ancient Greek theatre.
The second English-language film version, Oedipus the King (1968), was directed by Philip Saville and filmed in Greece. Unlike Guthrie's film, this version shows the actors' faces, as well as boasting an all-star cast, including Christopher Plummer as Oedipus; Lilli Palmer as Jocasta; Orson Welles as Tiresias; Richard Johnson as Creon; Roger Livesey as the Shepherd; and Donald Sutherland as the Leading Member of the Chorus. Sutherland's voice, however, was dubbed by another actor. The film went a step further than the play by actually showing, in flashback, the murder of Laius (portrayed by Friedrich Ledebur). It also shows Oedipus and Jocasta in bed together, making love. Though released in 1968, this film was not seen in Europe or the US until the 1970s and 1980s after legal release and distribution rights were granted to video and television.
In Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini directed Edipo Re (1967), a modern interpretation of the play.
Toshio Matsumoto's film, Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), is a loose adaptation of the play and an important work of the Japanese New Wave.
In Colombia, writer Gabriel García Márquez adapted the story in Edipo Alcalde, bringing it to the real-world situation of Colombia at the time.
The Nigerian film The Gods are STILL not to Blame (2012) was produced by Funke Fayoyin, premiering at Silverbird Galleria in Lagos.
Park Chan-wook's South Korean film, Oldboy (2003), was inspired by the play while making several notable changes to allow it to work in a modern South-Korean setting.[39] The film even alters the iconic twist, causing many American critics to overlook the connection. It received widespread acclaim, and is seen in South Korea as the definitive adaptation.
Stage adaptions
Play by the Celje Slovene People's Theatre in 1968The composer Igor Stravinsky wrote the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, which premiered in 1927 at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris. It is scored for orchestra, speaker, soloists, and male chorus. The libretto, based on Sophocles's tragedy, was written by Jean Cocteau in French and then translated by Abbé Jean Daniélou into Latin. The narration, however, is performed in the language of the audience. The work was written towards the beginning of Stravinsky's neoclassical period and is considered one of the finest works from this phase of the composer's career. He had considered setting the language of the work in Ancient Greek, but decided ultimately on Latin, as "a medium not dead but turned to stone."
Nigerian writer Ola Rotimi adapted Oedipus Rex into a 1968 play and novel, titling it The Gods Are Not to Blame. In 2012, the play was further adapted by Otun Rasheed, under the title The Gods Are STILL Not to Blame.
Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham adapted Oedipus Rex into a short ballet entitled Night Journey, premiering in 1947. In this adaptation, the action focuses not on Oedipus, but upon Jocasta, reflecting on her strange destiny.[40][41]
TV/radio adaptions
Don Taylor's 1986 translation/adaptation of Oedipus Rex using the English title Oedipus the King formed part of the BBC's Theban Plays trilogy. It starred Michael Pennington as Oedipus, with Claire Bloom as Jocasta, John Gielgud as Tiresias, and John Shrapnel as Creon. The actors performed in modern dress.
In 1977, CBS Radio Mystery Theater broadcast a version of the story called "So Shall Ye Reap," set in 1851 in what was then the U.S. Territory of New Mexico.
In 1987, Brazilian TV Globo broadcast the soap opera Mandala a loose adaptation set in Brazil modern times starring Vera Fischer as Jocasta.
In 2017, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a production of Anthony Burgess' translation of the play with Christopher Eccleston as Oedipus and Fiona Shaw as Tiresias/Second Elder. John Shrapnel, who starred as Creon in the 1986 BBC television version, played the First Elder.
Other television portrayals of Oedipus include that of Christopher Plummer (1957), Ian Holm (1972), and Patrick Stewart (1977).
Parodies
Peter Schickele parodies both the story of Oedipus Rex and the music of Stravinsky's opera-oratorio of the same name in Oedipus Tex, a Western-themed oratorio purportedly written by P.D.Q. Bach. It was released in 1990 on the album Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities.
Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou makes a parody of the tragedy in his comedy Medea (1993).[42]
In episode ten of the second season of the Australian satirical comedy show CNNNN, a short animation in the style of a Disney movie trailer, complete with jaunty music provided by Andrew Hansen, parodies Oedipus Rex.[43] Apart from being advertised as "fun for the whole family," the parody is also mentioned at other times during that same episode, such as in a satirical advertisement in which orphans are offered a free "Oedipus Rex ashes urn" as a promotional offer after losing a relative.[44]
John Barth's novel Giles Goat-Boy contains a forty-page parody of the full text of Oedipus Rex called Taliped Decanus.
Tom Lehrer wrote and performed a comedic song based upon Oedipus Rex in 1959.
Bo Burnham references Oedipus in songs "Words Words Words" and "Rant", both part of his album, Words Words Words.
