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| Welcome to Thebes | |
|---|---|
 Welcome to Thebes promotional poster | |
| Written by | Moira Buffini |
| Characters | See below |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Tragedy |
Welcome to Thebes is a 2010 play by Moira Buffini. It premiered on 15 June 2010 in a production at the Olivier Theatre of the Royal National Theatre in London directed by Richard Eyre.
Set in 'a city named Thebes, somewhere in the 20th century', [1] the play is introduced by militia sergeant named Miletus and two child soldiers under his command, Scud and Megeara. They discover the body of Polynices, a warlord in the recently ended civil war and brother of Antigone and Ismene. Meanwhile, Ismene and the new female president of Thebes, Eurydice, widow of Creon and head of an all-female cabinet (except for the minister of Education, who is a 'token man'), get ready for the arrival of Theseus, first citizen of the powerful democratic state of Athens. He is on his way for talks with Eurydice regarding aid to rebuild Thebes after the civil war. The cabinet's Justice Minister spends the same time gathering testimonies from victims of the civil war, such as Polykleitos, whose son died in the war. The champion athlete, war criminal and warlord Tydeus ran against Eurydice in the election and is now leader of the opposition, but he spends the time before Theseus' arrival plotting to take back power with his lover, Polynices' widow Pargeia. The Justice Minister then arrives to accuse Tydeus of war crimes, and Pargeia of embezzling charity funds.
Eurydice is informed of the body's discovery and goes to see it. Theseus arrives by helicopter and is irked by Eurydice's late arrival and the mysterious warnings of the blind hermaphrodite Tiresias. He puts up a friendly front, however, and goes with Eurydice to her public inauguration. There she announces that she will refuse Polynices' body burial and Tydeus suffers or feigns possession by the god Dionysus. The following night Theseus makes a pass at Eurydice and is rebuffed, and also keeps up to date with his wife Phaedra and his son Hippolytus. In the meantime Antigone makes an attempt to bury her brother but is stopped and captured by Miletus and his soldiers.
The following morning sees the start of aid talks between Theseus and Eurydice. Miletus and his soldiers arrive at the senate with Antigone and Theseus's white aide Talthybia comes out to see what is going on, only to be mistaken for a ghost by Scud, who pulls a gun on her. Theseus rushes out with Phaex and his other bodyguards to see what is going on, but only exacerbates the situation, with Megeara pulling a gun on them. In the ensuing stand-off, Scud is accidentally shot dead by Phaex and the aid talks break down. Tydeus and Pargeia see their chance and begin to win over Theseus to their side, whilst Eurydice decides that her refusal to bury Polynices has brought the disaster on herself. She has Scud and Polynices buried in one grave and goes back to Theseus.
Theseus seems to have almost gone over to Tydeus' side when Eurydice's justice minister produces Polykleitos, who gives evidence against Tydeus as a war criminal and speaks about how Tydeus killed his son. Tydeus plans to cause an uprising, but is then knifed to death by Megeara, whose fellow villagers had been killed by his troops. Theseus then receives news of Phaedra's suicide and curses his son, who he thinks has brought about the suicide. Antigone in the meantime accepts a proposal of marriage from Eurydice's blinded son Haemon. In a state of shock at news of the suicide, Theseus agrees to invite Eurydice to Athens and resume the talks there. Miletus and Megeara then decide to travel to Athens to try their fortunes there.
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In Greek mythology, Antigone is a Theban princess, and a character in several ancient Greek tragedies. She is the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes, and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene. The meaning of the name is, as in the case of the masculine equivalent Antigonus, "in place of one's parents" or "worthy of one's parents". Antigone appears in the three 5th century BC tragic plays written by Sophocles, known collectively as the three Theban plays, being the protagonist of the eponymous tragedy Antigone. She makes a brief appearance at the end of Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, while her story was also the subject of Euripides' now lost play with the same name.
Antigone is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC and first performed at the Festival of Dionysus of the same year. It is thought to be the second oldest surviving play of Sophocles, preceded by Ajax, which was written around the same period. The play is one of a triad of tragedies known as the three Theban plays, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Even though the events in Antigone occur last in the order of events depicted in the plays, Sophocles wrote Antigone first. The story expands on the Theban legend that predates it, and it picks up where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends. The play is named after the main protagonist Antigone.
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family.
In Greek mythology, Polynices was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles. When his father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, he was expelled from Thebes, leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule. Because of a curse put on them by their father Oedipus, the two sons did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result, killing each other in battle for control over Thebes.
Creon, is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus.
In Greek mythology, Adrastus or Adrestus, , was a king of Argos, and leader of the Seven against Thebes. He was the son of the Argive king Talaus, but was forced out of Argos by his dynastic rival Amphiaraus. He fled to Sicyon, where he became king. Later he reconciled with Amphiaraus and returned to Argos as its king.
In Greek mythology, Ismene is a Theban princess. She is the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, king of Thebes, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices. She appears in several tragic plays of Sophocles: at the end of Oedipus Rex, in Oedipus at Colonus and in Antigone. She also appears at the end of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes.
Oedipus at Colonus is the second-last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.
The Greek Heroic Age, in mythology, is the period between the coming of the Greeks to Thessaly and the Greek warriors' return from Troy. The poet Hesiod identified this mythological era as one of his five Ages of Man. The period spans roughly six generations; the heroes denoted by the term are superhuman, though not divine, and are celebrated in the literature of Homer and of others, such as Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.
The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban throne. Adrastus, although always the leader of the expedition against Thebes, was not always counted as one of the Seven champions. Usually the Seven were Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Parthenopaeus, Hippomedon, and Adrastus or Eteoclus, whenever Adrastus is excluded. They tried and failed to take Thebes, and all but Adrastus died in the attempt.
The Phoenician Women is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes. It was presented along with the tragedies Hypsipyle and Antiope. With this trilogy, Euripides won the second prize. The title refers to the Greek chorus, which is composed of Phoenician women on their way to Delphi who are trapped in Thebes by the war. Unlike some of Euripides' other plays, the chorus does not play a significant role in the plot, but represents the innocent and neutral people who very often are found in the middle of war situations. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son.
The Burial at Thebes: A version of Sophocles' Antigone is a play by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, based on the fifth century BC tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. It is also an opera by Dominique Le Gendre.
The Suppliants, also called The Suppliant Women, first performed in 423 BC, is an ancient Greek play by Euripides.
The Thebaid is a Latin epic poem written by the Roman poet Statius. Published in the early 90s AD, it contains 12 books and recounts the clash of two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, over the throne of the Greek city of Thebes. After Polynices is sent into exile, he forges an alliance of seven Greek princes and embarks on a military campaign against his brother.
In Greek mythology, Eurydice sometimes called Henioche, was the wife of Creon, a king of Thebes.
Antigona (Antigone) is an opera in three acts in Italian by the composer Tommaso Traetta. The libretto, by Marco Coltellini, is based on the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles.
Antigone is a 1961 Greek film adaptation of the Ancient Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. It stars Irene Papas in the title role and was directed by Yorgos Javellas.
In Greek mythology, Megareus or Menoeceus (Μενοικεύς) was a warrior of Thebes, who figures in the war of the Seven against Thebes – the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices, the twin sons of Oedipus, for the throne of Thebes. He was known for his large stature, and is considered an anthropomorphic representation of his father's pride by some literary scholars.
Antigone is a play by the Attic dramatist Euripides, which is now lost except for a number of fragments. According to Aristophanes of Byzantium, the plot was similar to that of Sophocles' play Antigone, with three differences. The date of the play is uncertain, but there is evidence that it was written late in Euripides' career, between 420 BCE and 406 BCE.
Antígona Furiosa, written in the period of 1985-86 by Griselda Gambaro, is an Argentinian drama heavily influenced by Antigone by Sophocles, and comments on an era of government terrorism that later transformed into the Dirty War of Argentina.Antígona Furiosa was first published 1989 in Griselda Gambaro: Teatro 3 in Buenos Aires, after it stayed many years hidden while Gambaro was in exile in Barcelona. The play premiered September 24, 1986 at the Goethe Institute in Buenos Aires under the direction of Laura Yusem.