VIRTUAL TOUR
Scene Five: The Awful Truth
After a Pastoral Ode [Mountain Mama] in which the Chorus debates the possible mythical parentage of their newfound Mountain King, Oedipus returns with the Messenger and spots an old man. Yes, there he is at last, the long-awaited Shepherd. [High Times on Cithaeron] But he is just as reticent as Tiresias.
After the threat of torture however, he is forced to admit that he gave the baby to the Corinthian Messenger and that he himself got the child from its father... Laius! [Sheep Dip]
“I thought he’d be safe in faraway Corinth,” the Shepherd tells the Messenger, “but at those three roads, I saw those ankles again, and I ran.” And later, at the Sphinx Victory Parade, he saw those damned ankles again. And then once more: at the Queen’s second wedding.
Bummer.
At last, Oedipus knows and he rushes off to search for Jocasta.
