Oedipus El Rey
Playwright: Luis Alfaro. At: Victory Gardens Theatre at the Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets: 773-871-3000; www.victorygardens.org; $20-$50. Runs through: July 29
Electra
Playwright: adapted by Sonya Moser from the play by Euripides. At: Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company at Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan Rd. Tickets: 773-871-0442; www.maryarrchie.com; $20. Runs through: July 29
What elevates mere stories to the status of myths is the degree to which they transcend time, place and culture to address the universal human condition. Sophocles' tragedy of Oedipus Rex asked whether defying the destiny mapped by the gods represented blasphemy inviting divine punishment, while Luis Alfaro's modern retelling of the fable argues the odds of a vato boy raised in the criminal underworld escaping a fate as inexorable as those decreed by the deities of old.
Our storytellers are prison inmates speaking Spanglishthe spawn of a savage universe ruled by Christian and pagan rites merging into a social code as insular as it is unquestioned. We hear how a drug kingpin, fearful of relinquishing his power, ordered his own son executed after mutilating the infant's feet to prevent pursuit from the gravea plan foiled by the designated hit man sparing the child he names "Oedipus" ("swollen foot"). Our hero, instead of making a fresh start in Las Vegas following his release on parole, seeks his fortune in the Los Angeles barrio. Almost upon his arrival, he finds himself embroiled in a fight to the death. Later the orphaned lad is drawn to a young widow, the daughter of immigrant parents, their yearning for a peaceful home and family uniting them.
Even if you don't buy into Alfaro's sociological subtext, his transposition of classical rhetoric to modern idiom is as impressive in its dictional accuracy as it is spellbinding in its polyglot eloquence. However, if your fancy doesn't run toward scholarly analyses of any kind, there is still the blood-stirring viscerality of Chay Yew's high-voltage direction, incorporating orchestrated speech and Ryan Bourque's riveting kinetic panoramas. (The conjuring of the riddling sphinx from a trio of shape-shifting curanderos is a sight to terrify the most skeptical playgoer.)
No less visceral is the Electra currently occupying the Angel Island loft, presented by Mary-Arrchie Theatre in collaboration with Illinois State University. This adaptation by Sonya Moser from the tragedy by Euripedes features Appalachian string bands, Ry Cooder-style a cappella blues, intrusive academic footnotes, bloody post-mortem spectacle andfor its Central Visual Metaphorlots of squeeze-through-your-fingers, smear-on-your-face, hurl-at-the-wall mud.