About the Play:

The most celebrated plays of ancient Athens in vibrant translations by award-winning poet Robert Bagg.

Award-winning poet and playwright Robert Bagg offers a set of exciting and authentic translations of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Kolonos, and Antigone — together known as The Oedipus Cycle. One of the unquestionable acmes of world literature, Sophocles' immortal series of plays centres upon the royal family of Thebes, whose struggles for nobility and greatness lead paradoxically to their own tragic downfalls. Portraying humankind at its worst and most fallible even while exploring the heights of virtue and honour, the plays shine a searing light upon questions of fate and free will, destiny and responsibility, hubris and humility, honour and obligation, and more. Robert Bagg's timely translations allow the power and depth of Sophocles' masterpieces to shine through clearly to readers today.

Sophocles' three great masterpieces, gathered here in one volume, dramatize the inexplicable animosity directed at three generations of Thebes' royal family by Apollo, the inscrutable god who terrifies and deceives his victims into acts of incest, betrayal, and kin murder. These Greek family dramas — Oedipus the King (Cast: 1 woman, 7 men, plus chorus of men and extras), Oedipus at Kolonos (Cast: 2 women, 6 men, plus chorus of men and extras), and Antigone (Cast: 3 women, 6 men, plus chorus of men) — are fraught with horrific crises, confrontations, and excruciating choices, all of which still rivet theatergoers and readers in the 21st century.

Robert Bagg's accurate and dynamic translations are modern in idiom while faithful to the Greek. His translations of Oedipus the King and Antigone have been successfully staged in over 60 productions. They preserve the complexity of Sophocles' characters and their dialogue (whether searingly raw, subtly inflected, or infused with humour) and render Sophocles' choral odes in resonant poetry. The three plays of The Oedipus Cycle, already proven stageworthy, refresh and clarify Sophocles' narratives for a new generation about to discover timeless sources of pleasure and illumination in classical Greek drama.

What people say:

"Robert Bagg's renditions of the Oedipus plays are closer to the Greek, in their rhetorical power, precision of image, rhythm, pace and tone, than any other versions I know." — Richard P. Martin, Stanford University

About the Playwright:

Robert Bagg is an American poet and translator. He has divided his efforts among poetry, translating Sophocles and Euripides, and literary criticism. In addition to his other literary work, he taught English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1965–1996), serving as Department Chair (1986–92). He lives in Western Massachusetts.