Oedipus (Voltaire play) Oedipus (Voltaire play) Oedipus () is a tragedy by the French dramatist and philosopher Voltaire that was first performed in 1718. It was his first play and the first literary work for which he used the pen-name Voltaire (his real name was François-Marie Arouet). Voltaire completed the play in 1717 during his 11-month imprisonment. In a letter of 1731 Voltaire wrote that when he wrote the play he was "full of my readings of the ancient authors [...] I knew very little of the theater in Paris." In adapting Sophocles' Athenian tragedy "Oedipus Rex", Voltaire attempted to rationalise the plot
Use of costume in Athenian tragedy hair. Attempts have been made in modern times to investigate the use of masks in Athenian tragedy through practice research. These explorations conclude that masks may lead to a more demonstrative style of acting, with declamatory delivery of the lines substituted for intimacy. They also found that the mask could impede the projection of sound. The Greeks are said to have overcome this in various ways. Initially, the mouth apertures were small, but later this became a “wide-open” mouth. Some authors believe that the mouth was shaped like a “mouth-trumpet” and had an amplifying effect. Certainly, the use of a