They are—or were—the perfect couple. They’ve been together for years, and have adult children. Why should a little quirk in the family tree, only just discovered, mean everything has to change? Does a man really have to separate from his (loving, supportive, gorgeous, funny) wife just because she happens to be his mother?

The actress Lesley Manville had seen productions of Sophocles’s Oedipus before, but never one like the modern adaptation she stars in this autumn at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Studio 54 on Broadway (until February 8). This one leaves audiences shattered—the word devastating kept cropping up when it was staged in London last year . It’s set in a campaign office: Oedipus, a politician, waits with his wife, Jocasta, for the results of a major election. Their l

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