Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy, driving force of Storytellers Theatre, is best known as a skilled adapter for the stage of the novels of Dickens, Hardy, Austen and others. She has now turned her attention and talents to ancient Greek drama, and her version of Oedipus, by Sophocles, opens at the Cork Opera House next week.

It is the first Irish professional outing for the classic story since Michael Cacoyannis directed it for the Abbey in 1974, in a production which left its audiences mesmerised. The team of director and actors (with Barry McGovern, right) now assembled is a distinguished one, and expectations are high. The Cork showing will be followed by an extensive tour around Ireland.