About the work
Laios is a play by Roland Schimmelpfennig and the second part of Anthropolis, a five-part cycle on the ancient myth of Thebes that Schimmelpfennig developed with the director Karin Beier for the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg. It premiered in Hamburg on 29 September 2023, two weeks after the opening instalment Prolog/Dionysos; Karin Beier directed, and Lina Beckmann performed the evening as a solo.
Plot
A narrator recounts the prehistory of the Oedipus myth and embodies every character herself. Laios grows up in exile, lives at the court of Pelops and abducts his son Chrysippos before being called back to rule Thebes with Iokaste. An oracle foretells that their son will kill his father; the couple nevertheless has a child and exposes the newborn Oedipus. The play asks how much responsibility parents bear for the fate of their children.
Cultural significance
In the annual critics' poll of the magazine Theater heute, Laios was voted Play of the Year 2024, and the Hamburg production shared the title of Production of the Year. The premiere production was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 2024 and won the audience award at the Mülheim Theatertage.