By Emmelia Georgiou
The National Theatre of Northern Greece presents the political tragedy by Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes on Wednesday and Thursday at Curium Ancient Theatre, Limassol. As with other performances in the International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama, this play is expected to keep audience members on the edge of their seats.
Translated by Yorgos Blanas and Directed by Cezaris Grauzinis, the cast includes Yiannis Stankoglou as Eteocles and Giorgos Papandreou as Polynices.
The theme of this play is the conflict between the two sons of Oedipus. When Oedipus, King of Thebes, realised he had married his own mother and had two sons and two daughters with her, he blinded himself with her brooch and cursed his sons to divide their inheritance (the kingdom) by the sword. The two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, in order to avoid bloodshed, agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years. After the first year, Eteocles refused to step down, leading Polynices to raise an army in order to take Thebes by force. This is where Aeschylus’ tragedy starts.
Seven Against Thebes features little action. Instead the play consists of rich dialogues between the citizens of Thebes and their king, Eteocles, regarding the threat of the hostile army before their gates. There is a lengthy description of each of the seven captains that lead the army against the seven gates of the city of Thebes.
Eteocles announces which Theban commanders he will send against each soldier. Finally, the commander of the troops before the seventh gate is revealed to be Polynices, the brother of the king. In that instant Eteocles brings his father’s curse to mind and agrees to meet and fight his brother in person before the seventh gate and exits the stage.
Following a choral ode, a messenger enters, announcing that the attackers have been repelled but that Eteocles and Polynices have killed each other in battle. Their bodies are brought on stage and the chorus mourns them.
“It seems, that all of us – not only people in Greece, but people in the whole of Europe – are living with a feeling as if death threatening enemies are standing outside the fragile walls of our lives. We don’t know the name of the enemy – our enemy has many masks, many names. Sometimes it even seems that our worst enemy has our own face, our own name. We need a tragedy in order to re discover that we are, nevertheless, humans and that our human fate is to be united,” Grauzinis said.
Referring to the performance’s current tour, the director concludes that “the creative team of Seven Against Thebes are taking up the challenge to explore how the instinct of our common survival coincides with our need to remain human… which we have inherited from our ancestors and which we are obliged to pass to our own children, against fear, against insecurity, against desperation.”
Seven Against Thebes
Performance of the play by Aeschylus. July 12-13. Curium Ancient Theatre, Episkopi, Limassol. 9pm. €10/5. Tel: 70-002414
