Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant

About the show

Shelley recasts the Queen Caroline divorce proceedings as grotesque political satire: King Swellfoot, a corrupt George IV figure, and his ministers try to suppress the pig-chorus and prosecute Queen Iona Taurina. The pigs challenge parliamentary and clerical hypocrisy; Iona and the Minotaur briefly ally against the royal court, which is transformed and driven away as the people gain freedom.