From Page to Stage: Theatrical Afterlives

Since antiquity, Oedipus at Colonus has fascinated audiences and thinkers alike. Aristotle saw in it a model of tragic dignity; the Alexandrian scholars admired its lyrical perfection. During the Renaissance, humanist readers rediscovered its spiritual calm after the violent passions of *Oedipus Tyrannus*. In modern times, the play has inspired a range of interpretations—from existentialist readings that see Oedipus as a figure of moral autonomy, to political stagings that treat his return as a metaphor for exile and belonging. Robert Fitzgerald’s mid-twentieth-century adaptation brought its austere beauty to English poetry, while contemporary theatre companies have revived it as a meditation on migration, ageing, and forgiveness. Every generation finds in Oedipus a reflection of its own anxieties—and its own hope for redemption.