Luke Alexander's blog

I knew absolutely nothing about Welcome to Thebes before I went into the National Theatre production earlier this week, and I thoroughly recommend this approach to get the most out of it.

Since that essentially invalidates this mini-review, I’ll keep it nice and short.

The play, a new work from Moira Buffini, takes the location of Thebes as shorthand for a jumble of classical and contemporary themes.  At its most basic level, Welcome to Thebes brings us a collision between the dense, symbolic action of classical tragedy and the visceral reality of the aftermath of modern conflict.  In doing so, it manages to provide a fresh alternative on both.

It is in its relocation of conflict-torn Thebes to a post-war African state, complete with the vocabulary of Truth and Reconciliation, where the play will lose the patience of some of its audience.  And, indeed, the script does occasionally lapse into cliché from which the superb cast cannot quite rescue it – particularly in the characters of the insane Prince Tydeus and the cabinet / chorus of gossiping middle aged women.

Others may criticise the liberties Buffini takes with her apparent source material – the story of Antigone.  But, even as an over-sensitive Classicist, this didn’t bother me – and it came across as an authentic retelling, retaining the sublimest themes without fixating on accuracy in details which were, at any rate, perfectly fluid two and a half millennia ago.

Highlights included: the ever-present and aptly comic Tiresias, highlighting the themes of blindness, foresight and destiny which stood up well against its classical source material; a superb interpretation of the arrogance of democratic Athens which never quite dipped into parody of American imperialism; and forceful, poetic writing delivered by a well-chosen cast.  The decision to place Thebes in the hands of a democratically elected Euridyce is bold, but pays off.  And the character of Theseus is nothing but a joy to watch.

Certainly a recommended theatre trip, particularly for those with a classical bent.  But don’t go expecting Sophocles or Ford Coppola.