Anna Burnside reviews an impressive entry in the current season of A Play, A Pie and A Pint.
Jocasta’s blood- and mud-spattered legs have brought her to what she works out is a place of rest. But before she can finally stop running, she must tell her story. That’s the price of admission.
She’s reluctant to go through it all again. She’s Jocasta of Greek myth fame - surely the gods who sit in judgement on her are aware of her backstory. “Married and fucked by her son Oedipus,” as she bluntly puts it.
But no. Like so many abused women after her, she has to relive her trauma one more time.
Nikki Kalkman is far from the first writer to rework a Greek myth from a new viewpoint. But this story, so famous it has become an adjective, stands retelling from a female perspective.
Zoe Hunter does a grand job of telescoping her horrific life into 55 minutes. It’s all there: the arranged marriage to the king, the brute of a husband, the cursed infant who should have been killed but is not. Then the bleak years - “weaving, bruises, boredom” - are over, the king is dead and the bold Oedipus marches into town.
The plot is a lot but it doesn’t feel rushed. The horror is diluted with Jocasta’s personal gumption and plenty of hot sex. Instead of being a vessel and a victim, she owns this narrative. In every way.
Jocasta performs at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint until April 19, 2025.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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