Oedipus Show Poster

Oedipus Reviews

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville star in the Broadway transfer of Robert Icke's take on Sophocles' tragedy.

4.6
Show Overview

critics reviews Critics’ Reviews (3)

A collection of our favorite reviews from professional news sources.
The New York Post

"Pulse-pounding and thrilling!"

The New York Post

Johnny Oleksinki

The Washington Post

"The most captivating performances of the year!"

The Washington Post

Naveen Kumar

The New York Times

"Is it electrifying? God, yes."

The New York Times

Alexis Soloski

customer reviews

Customer Reviews (60)

4.6
Score average from verified show reviews by customers who’ve bought tickets from Broadway.com.
5 stars
77%
4 stars
17%
3 stars
2%
2 stars
2%
1 star
3%
Showing 1 star reviews. View all reviews
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Boring and poorly written
"The text is cliche ridden and dull. Much of what goes on for 2 hours is pointless as if the playwright is trying to fill the time of a page quota. Trying to compensate for overall dullness by lame sex jokes and an imitation sex act is pathetic. Other than the two main male characters the acting is amateurish. I wanted to leave in the middle but was sitting in the middle of a densely packed row, decided not to bother other viewers. "
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Vladimir K from Teaneck on Jan 30, 2026
It just wasn't for me.
"The adaptation suffers from 'tonal dissonance.' By rewriting Sophocles into casual, modern vernacular (lots of 'umms,' 'okays,' and campaign jargon), the play strips away the mythic stakes. When characters discuss incest and murder with the same casual tone used for polling numbers, the horror doesn't land—it just feels awkward. The attempt to be 'hyper-real' actually makes the interactions feel less believable. The production leans too heavily on the aesthetic of a Netflix political drama at the expense of the story's emotional core. Framing Oedipus as a 'Mike Prince' style tech-populist turns a story about Fate and Gods into a mundane procedural about a PR scandal. The countdown clock on stage, while meant to add tension, ultimately feels like a gimmick that rushes the actors through moments that require deep emotional breathing room. he direction fails to manage the tone effectively, resulting in accidental comedy during the climax. Because the setting is so sterile and the acting so clinical, the revelations of the tragedy land as punchlines rather than horror. When an audience laughs during the final devastation of Oedipus, it is a sign that the modernization has distanced them from the characters' pain rather than drawing them in. While Mark Strong delivers a commanding performance, this production is a 'political thriller' that forgets to be a tragedy. It trades emotional depth for clever pacing tricks (like the onstage clock), leaving us with a slick, cold exercise that feels more like a contrived TV writer's room than a classic Greek myth."
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Timothy M from Bourne on Jan 6, 2026

About Oedipus

It’s election night. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change.

Director Robert Icke transforms Sophocles’ epic tragedy into an essential, explosive, sensual human thriller catapulting the secrets of the past into a high-stakes present.

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