Opening scenes of plays or any performance piece allow the audience to enter the world without resolution of continuity; the world of the show can be constructed through the dynamic between the actors and the audience and the exposition itself. In the original script of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, there is no initial exposition of a background story. By the time of its original productions, audiences would have known the story of Oedipus and how he and the city of Thebes found themselves in a difficult situation. The opening dialogue is between Oedipus and the priest; this gives a feeling of vulnerability for Oedipus as he laments how he can save his people by engaging in a private conversation with the priest. However, his version leaves a divide between the people and Oedipus, providing a more accurate description of the historical hierarchy but leaving a disconnect between the king and his people. In Oedipus: A New Version, Ellen McLaughlin's adapted screenplay, the work opens with an unidentifiable voice stating a riddle. The unknown voice that threatens you: “Tell me or die. One by one. Tell me and you will die. One by One", (McLaughlin, 73) followed by an ambiguous cry gives the eerie feeling that leads to the rest of the opening scene where Oedipus speaks to the chorus about their woes after the defeat of the Sphinx. The scene, contrasts with the original text , raises the stakes as the audience senses the impending end of an omnipotent power before describing the horrors of their current state to the king in an open-ended setting played as a multi-layered prologue. The actors are used less as characters but as a unit representing the gods to describe what happened. Say no to plagiarism prohibited"? Get an original essay "CHORUS(MES): A place where three roads meet. ALL: A crossroads. [stomp or clap]CORO(MES): There is a story that two men came to a crossroads at the same time, so neither of them could get through.CORO(OED): And neither of them gave up.CORO(TEI) : And one was young, and one was old, but both the sameALL: Both the sameCORUS(TEI): In arrogance and strength. (Hammond, 6) This is similar to McLaughlin's piece where the opening meets an omniscient narrator; however, the latter is less of a malicious voice and more of an indifferent and powerful voice. While the other two scripts convey a sense of vulnerability and impending calamity respectively, Gay H Hammond's script comes close to immersing the audience without overwhelming them with the shock of a naked child or the detached imagery of a shrine. The main changes that influence the overall feel of the respective scripts is the depiction of violence and death. In the original text, the deaths in the story were staged offstage, which resulted in an actor going on stage to describe the death to the audience. In contemporary adaptations, the stark reality of death can be realized on stage. In McLaughlin's screenplay we see the death of Jocasta and the mutilation of Oedipus beneath the chorus' speech: “He thinks he can be sure. Thinks. Thinks. He thinks he can be happy. Think some of it will last. (Jocasta hangs herself, using the strips of the sheets as a rope.) Listen to him mutter. Telling stories in the dark. (McLaughlin, 129-130) Hearing the chorus talk about Oedipus as a child as the child's image reappears on stage, the realization of Jocasta creating her own noose gives the audience a disconcerting feeling of dread.