He returned as a freelance director in and , after which he claimed he was blacklisted by the BBC Drama department and it was not until that he again returned to direct his own plays 'The Exorcism' and, the following year, 'The Roses of Eyam'. The first professional production of any of his plays was a production of 'Grounds for Marriage'. His last work was 'The Road to the Sea'. Plagues are ravaging Thebes, and the blind fortune-teller Tieresias tells the mythical King Oedipus that the gods are unhappy.
The murder of the former king has gone unavenged, and Oedipus sets out to find the killer. The background to the story is that after having been married some time without children, his parents consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The Oracle foretold that should Laius have a son, the son would kill him and marry Jocasta. In an attempt to prevent this, when Jocasta bore a son, they gave the boy to a servant to abandon on the nearby mountain. However, rather than leave the child to die, the sympathetic servant passed the baby onto a shepherd from Corinth.
Oedipus is later adopted by Polybus of Corinth but is not told the truth. Many years later, Oedipus uncovers that Polybus is not his real father and asks the same Delphic Oracle for the true identity of his father.
The Oracle does not answer his question but instead tells him that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. In his attempt to avoid the fate predicted by the Oracle, he decides to not return home to Corinth. Since it is near to Delphi, Oedipus decides to go to Thebes and the prophecy hurtles towards its inevitable conclusion. Greek tragedy was performed as part of the spring rituals in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation and fertility, in huge theatres where actors, chorus and audience were united by the ceremonial spirit of the occasion under the open sky and in a natural setting.
The Theatre of Dionysus at Athens, where Oedipus and all the other Greek tragedies of which we have any real knowledge were first performed, was on the hillsides below the Acropolis, and could hold an audience of about 14, The story of Oedipus was well known to the Greek audiences. The main playwrights or poets wrote their own versions of the story, adapting and changing the details depending on what version of the myth was believed.
However Sophocles version is the only one to have survived. Modern versions of the story are not unknown; Steven Berkoff has written a powerful retelling of the myth, 'Greek', setting it in the back streets of the East End; Stravinsky and Cocteau's opera-oratorio, 'Oedipus Rex' provides a startling version set against a political and religious backdrop; and presently there will be a 'new' version of the Oedipus story, 'Omma', at the Young Vic in London, although rehearsals came to a halt recently when the actors left the production two weeks before the opening night.
Sophocles' Oedipus was a reminder of the Gods' power over man and to teach him a salutary lesson. Of course such 'lessons' are irrelevant to us today. Or are they? Antigone is the protagonist of Antigone. Creon has declared that the body of Polynices may not be given a proper burial because he led the forces that invaded Thebes, but Antigone wishes to give her brother a proper burial nevertheless.
The major conflict of Oedipus the King arises when Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus is responsible for the plague, and Oedipus refuses to believe him. The major conflict of Oedipus at Colonus is between Oedipus and Creon. Oedipus, furious at Thebes for exiling him, has no desire to return. The rising action of Oedipus at Colonus occurs when Creon demands that Oedipus return to Thebes and tries to force him to do so. The climax of Antigone is when Creon, too late to avert tragedy, decides to pardon Antigone for defying his orders and burying her brother.
This discovery drives Jocasta to hang herself, Oedipus to poke out his own eyes, and Creon to banish Oedipus from Thebes. The curse is followed by the onset of a storm, which Oedipus recognizes as a signal of his imminent death. The falling action of Antigone occurs after Creon decides to free Antigone from her tomblike prison.
Creon arrives too late and finds that Antigone has hanged herself.
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