Concept

Sophocles’ heroes recognise no perspectives other than their own; they serve a unique idea and passion. Old and tired, mendicant and ragged, Oedipus wants to be buried far from his city, Thebes, and from all the abuse he has received. The burial, in four of Sophocles’ tragedies, is a sign of greatness, the recapitulation of an existence. Oedipus demands again and again, amidst anxieties and pleas, then anger and threats, that it take place near Athens, allying himself with the young and unknown Theseus just for this and obtaining an end of life as he stubbornly wanted it, in Colonus. Electra is possessed by an abyss of pain endured through a single, violent passion, that of revenge. She pretends, she hates, she feels tenderness for her brother’s fake ashes. But he lives only for that revenge, in a continuous and furious tension that does not subside even after the first stab inflicted by Orestes on Clytemestra. ‘Strike twice,’ he shouts to his brother, sealing his own non-negotiable, absolute and unwavering nature even after getting what he wanted. Passionate ideals and absoluteness in pursuing them also lie in the most famous comic protagonist of all time, the Athenian Lysistrata. Only one passion, that against war: any means, to win. The outline is funny, it creates laughter, it borders on the farcical. But it is the other characters who allude, create jokes, burst out between obscene words and gestures. Lysistrata alone, armoured in a comic heroism that is no less absolute, is serious in saying and acting, stubbornly, insistently, at all costs, seeking peace.