The Legacy of Laius

Some 2500 years ago, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and even Homer as far back as the 7th or 8th century B.C.E., explored the tragedy known as the Oedipus Cycle. In 467 BCE, Aeschylus won first prize at the City Dionysia with a trilogy about the House of Laius, comprising Laius, Oedipus and Seven against Thebes, the only play which survives.

The poetic-drama, The Legacy of Laius, based on the ancient, original tale, basically obliterates Freud's Oedipus complex theories as the real impetus for the curse which compelled the son to kill the father and marry the mother and the complexes afflicting Oedipus' off-spring were not the fault of the mother and the son--nor was it reflective of an inherent desire of sons to sleep with their mothers and murder their fathers--but rather was precipitated by the pederasty between Oedipus' father, Laius, and the son of the neighboring king.

The Legacy of Laius reveals the seed of the Oedipus plays on which Western theater rests. The play is in verse, reflecting its connection to ancient Greek theater, which likewise was in poetic form. The Legacy of Laius follows classical form in that the action takes place in the course of a single day.