Oedipus | Robert Icke

“Oedipus” by Robert Icke returns with Nikos Kouris in the lead role and a renewed cast. Maria Kehagioglou takes on the role of Jocasta, while Anastasios Georgoulas appears as Eteocles.

Following sold-out performances in London’s West End, on Broadway in New York, and at Onassis Stegi last season, this Olivier Award-winning and seven Tony Award-nominated contemporary reworking of Sophocles’ tragedy comes to the Onassis Stegi Main Stage for a limited number of performances from 12 November 2026.

Election night.
A capable leader, the frontrunner in the race. A countdown ticking toward triumph. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change. We may know the story of Oedipus, but we could never have imagined this contemporary reading of the ancient myth. Robert Icke’s work grips and shakes you to the core. What happens when everything you believed in collapses? When your very existence shatters before your eyes?

Sophocles’ 428 BC tragedy on the relentless force of fate is reimagined through the contemporary lens of public image, personal responsibility and the limits of human endurance. Brought to life with gripping intensity, sardonic humor, and scenes that echo both political thriller and family tragedy, British playwright and director Robert Icke—known to Greek audiences from "The Doctor" and his adaptation of George Orwell’s "1984"—returns with an "Oedipus" that cannot be ignored.

“The catharsis that Icke seeks is neither epic nor ritualistic; it resembles the light of a cold office rather than divine intervention. A light that does not save—it reveals. Within this shifting environment, the actors move with precision.”

—Maria Kryou, athinorama.gr

“A very good and refreshing text.”

—Nikos Xenios, bookpress.gr

“A great moment for the local theatrical scene and—yes!—a magnificent production overall.”

—Nikos Roubis, debop.gr

“At Onassis Stegi, Robert Icke’s ‘Oedipus’ was not presented as an ancient drama. It was presented as a political act. And with these actors, something rare happened: a myth we all thought we knew became dangerous once again. We did not watch the story of a man who didn’t know who he was. We watched a world that thinks it knows. And we left Onassis Stegi a little blinder and a little more awake.”

—Katerina I. Anesti, iefimerida.gr

“For yet another year, Onassis Stegi hosts a renowned international director in his first collaboration with Greek actors. Internationally acclaimed British director and playwright Robert Icke delivers an explosive adaptation ofc ‘Oedipus,’ transforming the classic tragedy into a dark, gripping political-familial thriller.”

—Zoe Dimitriou, ladylike.gr

“There is no doubt that Robert Icke has developed a riveting theatrical dialogue with Sophocles’ play, traversing textually the centuries of culture that separate us and managing to forge coherent connections and deeply moving bonds with it, uniting the present with the past through the only common point of reference across the vast cultural time that divides us: Humanity. He offers us a text of high dramaturgical intensity, strikingly connected to its archetype and profoundly, meaningfully reimagined. At the same time, he creates a stage work of unceasing theatrical interest, with impeccably and compellingly drawn characters. […] Robert Icke has written and directed an undeniably significant version of ‘Oedipus,’ achieving a stunning dialogue with the ancient text. Perhaps the most complete and perceptive of recent decades, it is embodied in a production of extraordinary intensity and depth. Onassis Stegi creates the beneficial conditions both for us to be at the forefront of the European cultural landscape and for the significant interpretive contribution of prominent Greek actors to stand alongside their exceptional colleagues, opening an imaginary dialogue on the art of writing and acting today.”

—Heleni Koutsilaiou, elculture.gr

“[...] In this production of ‘Oedipus,’ we saw impeccable set design, a beautifully unfolding narrative (culminating in the scene following the revelation of the truth between Oedipus and Jocasta, a scene both dramatically and performatively mesmerizing), outstanding performances, and some brilliantly inventive staging ideas, such as the way Oedipus blinds himself.”

—Olga Sella, oanagnostis.gr

“The power of this adaptation lies [...] in its psychoanalytic intuition and perceptiveness, in the disarming, relentless, and daring way it focuses on the antagonistic relationship between knowledge and pleasure.”

—Louisa Arkoumaneas, lifo.gr

“The lead performances and the tight direction come together in a production of tremendous force.”

—Tonia Karaoglou, athinorama.gr

“Everything is contemporary. Hubris, vanity, otherness, pedophilia, gender stereotypes, woke culture, the arrogance of power.”

—Rea Grigoriou, “Kathimerini” newspaper, Sunday edition (“Arts” supplement)

“I don’t know how many people realized that what Onassis Stegi did with Robert Icke’s ‘Oedipus’ is something very different from what we’re used to in Greek theater (especially from institutional players), as well as relatively original on an international level. Instead of simply ‘inviting’ the latest Broadway and West End hit to its stage—that is, buying it and presenting it as is—it chose to bring it to its theater after first remounting it with a Greek translator, Nikos Hatzopoulos, a Greek associate director, Prodromos Tsinikoris [...] and Greek actors. The difference is substantial and, as it were, instructive for everyone. […] Icke’s play is experienced as something thrilling, terrifying, and unsettling to our certainties […] And all this while we are talking about real ‘Broadway.’ Let’s at least hold on to that from Onassis Stegi’s ‘Oedipus.’ Two and a half hours of performance—and yet such is its energy, vigor, and brilliance, such are its performances and rhythm, that you find yourself wishing it would never end.”

—Grigoris Ioannidis, “Efimerida ton Syntakton” newspaper

Opening in a campaign room on election night, Robert Icke’s modern retelling is riveting from beginning to end, the formidable leads supported by a stellar ensemble cast.

—Arifa Akbar, The Guardian

Icke’s staging buzzes with resonance in a world where truth is a contested commodity and politicians promising change stride across the public domain, where arguments rage about who belongs and who doesn’t. But it also goes much deeper. It reaches far into the nagging question of how much any of us really want to know, evoking that sudden lurch of panic when a partner’s infidelity, a redundancy or a medical diagnosis pulls the rug from under us and shifts our perception of who we are.

—Sarah Hemming, Financial Times

There will surely not be a more powerful production in the UK this year. Robert Icke, who in 2015 created a searing 21st-century Oresteia, now brings to London his version of Oedipus, first seen in Amsterdam and Edinburgh in 2018. It is electric.

—Susannah Clapp, The Observer

Writer and director Robert Icke reinvents the well-known story as a taut political thriller. Icke deliberately follows ancient Greek dramatic tradition by setting his play in a single space, the action spooling out in real time—which makes its eventual departure from convention yet another shock. The truth is literally blinding, here—and deafening, too—but he makes it impossible to look away, even for a moment.

—Alice Saville, The Independent

Robert Icke’s contemporary take on the tragedy is stylish and shattering.

—Dave Fargnoli, The Stage

Robert Icke becomes the youngest Olivier Award-winning director in history

“Oedipus” won two prizes at the prestigious Olivier Awards. Icke won best revival for “Oedipus” at the Oliviers and said in his acceptance speech that the chance to stage a new version of his adaptation at the Wyndham’s theatre had been “amazing.” After an ensemble of ITA actors performed it at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019, the London production paired Mark Strong, in the title role, with Lesley Manville as Jocasta. Manville, who won the Olivier Award for best actress, said that Icke’s time at ITA had “shaped a lot” for him. “After that production, he did some reworking of ‘Oedipus.’ He was very happy and comfortable working in Amsterdam […] He obviously saw that it could have another life here.” Its success has left Manville “almost wanting to text Sophocles!” she joked.

Icke’s masterpiece on Broadway

Along with “Oedipus” at the Onassis Stegi, Icke’s masterpiece was presented on Broadway. Starring Olivier Award winner Mark Strong (“Kingsman”) and Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville (“The Crown”), “Oedipus” on Broadway was “a gasp-inducing tale of truth and lies that sets the stage on fire.”