Oedipus Journal 4

“Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech.”
     After reading "Oedipus the King" and some of Ibsen's "Wild Duck", I definitely agree with this claim.  But first I have to say that I have not seen either of these plays actually performed.  However, through the stage directions and actor clued included in the works, I think that the visual aspect of a play is at least as important as the actual lines, if not more important.
     In "Oedipus the King", there are almost no stage directions.  There is a description of the stage and its props at the very beginning of the play, but almost no description at all throughout the rest of the book.  This left a lot to the imagination while I was reading.  I had almost no concept of where the scenes were taking place; if the characters were moving, if they were outside, etc.  There were few directions to the actors, which I guess is good for them because they can interpret the lines how they want.  Yet while I was reading, the dialogue was the only direction I got to how the characters were moving and feeling.  Again, I had to imagine a lot of it.  The lack of scene setting is most likely due to the fact that most stages in ancient Greece were not very elaborate and did not have many props.  However, it still led to a little bit of confusion for me.  The visual action would have been really helpful for me to understand the play more insightfully.
    After reading only one scene of "Wild Duck", I think I have a much better understanding of the characters' personalities and the setting.  This is because the setting and stage directions are very detailed in the book.  I can read about exactly how the stage is set up and exactly how the actors are moving.  This is the next best thing after actually watching the play being performed.  The description has led to a better understanding of this play than I had of "Oedipus the King".  The semi-visual action is really helpful to understanding and interpreting the words and themes.