Word: jocasta
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...using Gilbert Murray's not too satisfactory translation (Yeats' is no better; there is still need for a truly actable translation). Barry Morse, whose forte is high comedy, made an admirable Oedipus, but he could not plumb the depths of his final scene. Sydney Sturgess was badly miscast as Jocasta; but Ellis Rabb acted as cathartic a Tiresias as one is ever likely to see. The corporate delivery of the Chorus of Elders lacked rhythmic precision...
Opening like a work even better known than Oedipus-two sentries on the battlements of Thebes have for some nights been seeing the ghost of Oedipus' father-The Infernal Machine is most brittle and playful in its long, chatty first scene, where Jocasta (June Havoc), all dolled up for a night out, flirts with young soldiers. But already the ghost of King Laius tries to warn of things to come. When in the next scene a cocky, ambitious Oedipus (John Kerr) appears and infatuates the Sphinx, he does not guess her riddle; she tells him the answer. Again there...
...Jocasta. As a last warning of all, on their wedding night they are both hopelessly sleepy. In the final scene some 17 years later, Oedipus is warned again-this time against probing into the past. Everyone treats him with a kind of imploring "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no truths." But he is as dogged about disaster as he was about triumph. When at last the self-blinded Oedipus writhes and moans, Teiresias plumbs his insatiable pride: "He wanted to be the happiest of men, now he wants to be the unhappiest...
Female Lead: Edith Iselin, as Young Wife in Schnitzler's "Reigen" (HDC); Lisa Rosenfarb, as Jocasta in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" (Eliot); Lisa Rosenfarb, as Gertrude in Shakespeare's "Hamlet...
Just as impressive, in her own way, is the Jocasta of Lisa Rosenfarb. She projects the dignity of the queen of Thebes, and at the same time retains the tenderness of a loving wife. And to watch the horror of realization steal into her eyes as she recognizes that Oedipus is her own son is to witness a consumate piece of acting. A similar attention to the details of a performance can be found in Philip McCopy's portrayal of Tiresias, the blind prophet. In his single but long scene, the man personifies all the calm certaintly of truth...