'Oedipus' Broadway Review: Mark Strong and Lesley Manville Make the Same Old Mistakes

By Robert Hofler

Maybe they should just call it “Eddie.”

Playwright-director Robert Icke drops the “rex” in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” because he sets the tragedy in the contemporary world where the title character is running to be prime minister of the U.K. That country and that political office are not mentioned, but a short film that kicks off Icke’s two-hour play makes it clear that the politician Oedipus is running for highest office in what very much looks like London. And, of course, there are the British accents so adored by Broadway theatergoers. “Oedipus” opened Thursday at Studio 54 after an Olivier Award-winning run on the West End.