THEATRE: OEDIPUS LOVES YOU

It’s often quite nice to know that someone loves you. In Oedipus Loves You, it’s not. Director Gavin Quinn and Dublin’s Pan Pan Theatre are hitting Sydney with their version of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Quinn tells me, “Every generation has to decide what theatre is” and Pan Pan are modernising this dysfunctional, therapy-seeking, even drug-mashed family with rock numbers, live script changes and a bit of black humour. If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s the tale of Oedipus, a man doomed from birth to kill his father and marry his mother. Drawing inspiration from both Seneca and Sophocles’ award-winning versions of the story, as well as Freud’s popular (and somewhat scandalous) theory, the Oedipus Complex, Quinn admits, “There’s humour in it but it’s also about pathos”. Apparently boys, it’s also a great night out with your mum – “Oh yeah, all the mum’s like it!”

Jan 21-25, Seymour Centre, cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale, $30, 9351 7940 or seymourcentre.com.au