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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/63640
Greek by Steven Berkoff (1980): The Risky Transformation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex into a Love Story
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[eng] Can Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex really be transformed into a love story, as in Steven Berkoff’s drama entitled Greek? This article will show that, although Greek may be viewed by some critics as simply a provocative drama by no means intended to justify incest, directors, actors and critics in the end become enthralled by the powerful love story that ensues between Eddy and his wife and mother. This perspective reveals that Berkoff’s adaptation, intended to portray the social degradation of 1980s Great Britain, is in reality a quite risky proposition since it represents a flat denial of the tragic awareness of contemporary men and women. However, if this is the case, the audience, apart from enjoying the performance of Berkoff’s drama, might question, even from a non-fundamentalist perspective within the classical tradition, to what degree it makes sense to take inspiration from a text by Sophocles that precisely illustrates the great tragic awareness of the ancient Greeks.
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Podeu consultar la versió en català a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/63636 i la versió en castellà a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/63638
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GILABERT BARBERÀ, Pau. Greek by Steven Berkoff (1980): The Risky Transformation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex into a Love Story. Dionysus ex Machina. 2013. Vol. IV p. ISSN 2038-5137. [consulted: 17 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/63640