On the 25, 26th of October the opening night of «Sophocles. Oedipus the Tyrant» a play written by Heiner Müller based on Hölderlin's adaptation of Sophocle's tragedy will take place. Director - Matthias Langhoff.

Director, production designer — Matthias Langhoff, costume designer — Catherine Rankl, music — Igor Gladyirev.

On the 25, 26th of October in Saratov Kiselev Youth Theater the opening night of a production by famous European director Matthias Langhoff will take place. He will stage a play «Sophocles. Oedipus the Tyrant» written by Heiner Müller based on Hölderlin's adaptation of Sophocle's tragedy, Russian translation made by Alexey Shipenko.

Matthias Langhoff is one of the top ten world famous directors. His shows were performed on major European stages. He was a managing director of worldwide renowned Vidy Theater in Lausanne, Switzerland for 10 years. At present Langhoff is living in France and is an Officer of the Legion of Honor. Langhoff was invited to visit Russia during the 150th Chekhov's jubilee by the president of Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. Langhoff’s productions were presented in Moscow and Taganrog, in the Meyerhold Centre he presented Heiner Muller's «Quartet», the play «Inspector» staged by Mattias Langhoff was shown during the 5th Anton Chekhov International Theater Festival. In 2008 Langhoff staged his highly acclaimed «Hamlet», that is considered to be one of the most successful performances in Europe.

Catherine Rankl is a well-known production designer, for many years she has been working in France and in other countries all over the Europe. The productions she took part in as a set or costume designer were the participants of various European prestigious festivals, including one of the most important theater events – The Avignon Festival. She has been working with director Matthias Langhoff for more than 20 years.

Heiner Müller’s play that Matthias Langhoff staged in Saratov Kiselev Youth Theater is based on the Sophocles’ version of the ancient Greek myth told in his tragedy «Oedipus the King». This myth is one of the most crucial archetypes of European culture. Laius, the king of Thebes, tried to avoid the Apollo’s prophesy that promised Laius death by the hand of his own son. The king ordered his wife Jocasta to leave their newborn baby on the mountain top with tightly bind feet to die from exposure. But a servant who carried the infant to the mountain felt pity for a boy and handed him to a shepherd from Corinth.  This shepherd brought the baby to King Polybus of Corinth who adopted the boy and names him Oedipus (or "swollen feet") and raised him as if he were his own.

As a young man Oedipus discovered from the Delphic Oracle that he will “mate with his own mother, and shed with his own hands the blood of his own sire”. Trying to escape such destiny Oedipus fled from Corinth and on the crossroad had a fight with a stranger about whose chariot had right-of-way. Oedipus killed the stranger unaware that it was Laius, his true father. Then Thebes arrived to Thebes and after solving the riddle of the Sphinx was made Thebes’ new King and married Jocasta. Time passed and Thebes suffered from another disaster after the Sphinx’s treat – a terrible plague. Oedipus trying his best to save the city launched an investigation thus discovering the truth about his birth. When Oedipus understood that the prophesy was fulfilled he plunged his own eyes in despair and was exiled from Thebes.

Matthias Langhoff used for his production not Sophocles’ tragedy «Oedipus the King» but Heiner Müller’s text based on the Hölderlin's translation. Heiner Müller is the most major theater figure since Bertolt Brecht; his plays mostly are the adaptations of classic stories, so-called “model-plays”. The play «Oedipus the King» is written in 1967 and is one of his first experiments on the creation of the “total play”, a text that will combine verbal and non-verbal means of putting influence on the audience. Plays by Heiner Müller are highly metaphoric in language; the text has a clipping structure, theatrical narration.