The Suppliant Women (Faber Drama)

If we help, we invite trouble. If we don’t, we bring shame. Fifty women board a boat in North Africa. They flee across the Mediterranean, leaving everything behind. They are escaping forced marriage in their home and seeking asylum in Greece. Written 2,500 years ago, The Suppliant Women is one of the world’s oldest plays. It’s about the plight of refugees, about moral and human rights, civil war, democracy and ultimately the triumph of love. It tells a story that echoes down the ages to find striking and poignant resonance today. Featuring in performance a chorus of local women, this is part play, part ritual, part theatrical archaeology. It explores fundamental questions of humanity: who are we, where do we belong and, if all goes wrong, who will take us in? Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women, in a version by David Greig, premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in October 2016, in a production by ATC.