ANTHROPOLIS II:
Laios
by Roland Schimmelpfennig / Stage Director: Karin Beier /Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg
In Thebes, a time full of excessive violence arises after Pentheus’ time has ended and as Labdacus, another one of Cadmos’ grandchildren, ascends to power. Finally, Laios, son of Labdacus, is brought back from exile and enthroned. But he doesn’t come alone, the young Chrysippus from Pisa is with him. Is he the reason the new royal couple Laios and Jocasta are childless or is it the seer Pythia’s oracle? And the next creature is already waiting before the city's gates: a cross between lion, woman and bird, the mysterious, singing sphinx drives the city into a murderous insanity. In a highly poetic and multiperspective monologue by the different characters and mythical variants on Oedipus’ father, the production tries to answer the question why Laios and Jocasta would have a child despite the religious prohibition. How much responsibility do the parents of Oedipus have for the fate of their child abandoned in the mountains right after birth? How much guilt is passed on from generation to generation and how much freedom do individuals have to free themselves of that?