#lesley-manville

#lesley-manville

, the hit play at Studio 54, is writer and director Robert Ickes' modern - and riveting - version of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Since that play was written around 425 B.C., I'm not spilling the beans by telling you it's about the King of Thebes (Oedipus) who unknowingly fulfills his destiny by killing his father and marrying his mother. When he discovers what he has done - what he can never "unsee" - he gouges out his eyes.

The specific brilliance of Lesley Manville had been on display for those who knew where to look long before her first Oscar nomination. She'd been part of the enviable Mike Leigh troupe (her first nomination should have been for Another Year) and a permanent small-screen fixture, even if the size of her roles hadn't correlated to the size of her talent.