Following a hugely successful 2022 run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, receiving the Infallible Award, The Sinners Review Award, and the Stagey Place Award, the electrifying reimagining of the ultimate love triangle – mother, father, son – Oedipus Electronica comes to Brixton House in March. An intoxicating whirlwind of ecstasy and devastation, Pecho Mama’s reinvention is a powerhouse production reimagined in a 21st century London setting.
An unapologetic and unflinching journey into the carnal heart of a woman pushed to the edge, Pecho Mama’s production of the notorious Greek myth focuses on Jocasta’s story. An emergency diagnosis crushes Jocasta’s hope of becoming a mother and sends her spiralling into hedonistic free fall, while Laius must find a way to bridge the world between fantasy and reality, or risk losing his wife. Oedipus wants to write a story to change the world, but he can’t escape the story that was always written for him.
Mella Faye’s cinematic sound design evokes London’s domestic grit as the audience is taken on a thrilling journey through the buzzing streets of Brixton. Tanya Stephenson’s lighting design spotlights the heart of South London’s nightlife and the live band onstage drive the action with a soundtrack that hurtles through jazz, techno and Pecho Mama’s trademark throbbing Electronica.
Oedipus is one of the best known myths and represents two enduring themes of Greek drama: the flawed nature of humanity and the struggle to control our own destiny. With ‘meta’ echoes of Charlie Kaufman and Birdman, writer Mella Faye’s driving script brings to life this ancient psychological thriller, interrupted by her own struggle to write. Oedipus Electronica is a love letter to the art of storytelling and its power to transform us.
Mella Faye, performer and Artistic Director of Pecho Mama comments, We’ve had about 10,000 years of patriarchal storytelling, which in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that long, but as we emerge from that trance, many of us are burning for the stories that express the female experience. Oedipus Electronica is a wild, carnal rollercoaster – an attempt to birth something against all the odds. It’s the story of motherhood, loss, creativity, desire and our search for wholeness.
Oedipus Electronica is at Brixton House Wednesday 6th – Saturday 9th March 2024
