Oedipus Game

The situation of Oedipus in that tragedy is that he is aware from the beginning that he is somehow
connected personally to the terrible events that are going on in Thebes. He therefore tries to find out
who is responsible for this in the hope that it will be somebody else whom he can act against. But the
further he goes on the more he becomes aware that it is him. The whole of the play becomes a
search for what is the truth of that situation; what actually happened on that hillside? Why are all
these attendant-ills being visited upon Thebes? In this way we substitute for the truth one single coin,
and so the game is played by all members of the group with both hands behind their backs and as
they pass other people that can take or pass on the coin. It is a child's game for such a serious
subject. Oedipus has to nominate who has the coin and then he has to say which hand it is in: if the
truth isn't there he has to go on to someone else. It is an exercise in frustration. You don't have to
play for very long before people get quite steamed up about where the truth lies.