Welcome to Thebes

Synopsis

Set in the present day, but inspired by ancient myth, the play offers a "passionate exploration of an encounter between the world’s richest and poorest countries, set in the aftermath of a brutal war". Faced with an impoverished population, a shattered infrastructure and a volatile army, the first democratic president of Thebes, Eurydice, promises peace to her nation. Without the aid of Theseus, the leader of the vastly wealthy state of Athens, she doesn’t stand a chance. But Theseus is arrogant, mercurial and motivated by profit.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 22 June 2010

Loosely based on the recent political upheavals in Liberia, Moira Buffini’s Welcome to Thebes in the Olivier is a wonderfully rich and fascinating play about women in coalition politics, colonial compromise in post-revolutionary shake-out, and Third World self-determination.

Richard Eyre’s generous and colourful production is a feast of fear and favour surrounding the visit of Theseus, king of Athens, to the impoverished satellite country, Thebes, where Eurydice heads a female-dominated government fighting off a dangerous insurrection.

Characters from Greek mythology reverberate in a modern context: the blind prophet Tiresias (Bruce Myers, off the leash from Peter Brook in Paris) treads doomily on everyone’s heels, while the corpse of the unburied Polyneices, son of Oedipus, is an ever-present jolt to the ramifications of the sibling tragedies of Antigone (Vinette Robinson is “the mad one”) and Ismene (Tracy Ifeachor, sleeping, more or less, with the enem...

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Latest User Review

El Peter - 21 August 2010:

This interesting new play is worth seeing. Its characters range from boy soldiers through politicians and generals to a wise prophet, as classical myth rubs up against contemporary realpolitik in a situation where ravaged and still troubled Thebes led by a mostly female government looks to wealthy Athens for help in peacetime. Now, there is dramatic conflict. Characters speak bluntly and lyrically: all have been brutalised in some way, most are hopeful, yet prejudices and vices simmer amidst the various stratagems for the future. It is serious stuff that gives room to wit and some music in the telling of its tale. The last time I saw the play's director, Richard Eyre, he was giving the inaugural Jocelyn Herbert lecture in honour of the late, distinguished designer, and sure enough here is a production whose set and costumes help make the spectacle. It is well written, it is well acted by a fine cast, the staging is spot-on. A few weeks on and stillthe play comes to mind several times a day, so vivid an experience was seeing it when I did. ...

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