When I was in high school in central Wisconsin, we took a class trip to Minneapolis to see a Guthrie Theater production of Euripides' "Oedipus Rex". It was a new translation/production done by Anthony Burgess (of Clockwork Orange and Napoleon Symphony fame), and starred Len Cariou in the lead role.

It was a weekday matinee, full of high school kids from lots of class trips. Some kids were reacting in typical adolescent fashion to the sexual and violent aspects of the play, talking and giggling. Cariou came down to the front of the stage, still in character, and gave a long, slow sweeping glare at the audience, without saying a word. And the crowd shut up.

It was one of the best and most frightening pieces of live theater I've ever seen in my life.