The Darker Face of the Earth

Blurb

The Darker Face of the Earth is a verse play written by Rita Dove. Her first full-length play, originally conceived in 1979, it was published in 1994, while Dove was serving as United States Poet Laureate. It was substantially revised in 1996 in preparation for its first production.
The play is set on a slave plantation in antebellum South Carolina, and is based on the Greek legend of Oedipus, and on Sophocles' play Oedipus the King in particular.
The play premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 1996. It was thereafter performed at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In 1999 it had its London premiere at the Royal National Theatre.