The Theater: New Plays in Manhattan, Feb. 17, 1958

The Infernal Machine (adapted by Albert Bermel from the French of Jean Cocteau) is Oedipus Rex revised and enlarged. The Cocteau version, which is 24 years old, does some clever satiric tale twisting, makes the story turn a psychological handspring or two, tosses in talk of music and dancing, and includes scene after scene that Sophocles did without. It uses a legitimate method of getting out of a classical rut and taking a fresh modern slant. The result is interesting without being successful.

Opening like a work even better known than Oedipus—two sentries on the battlements of Thebes have for some nights...

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