Work of| Eschilo
Director | Àlex Ollè
Translation | Walter Lapini

In Susa, capital of the Persian Empire, the old dignitaries left to rule the kingdom are gripped by anguish: the great king, Xerxes, long ago departed at the head of a massive expedition against Athens and has yet to return. Anxiety over the outcome of the war grows when Atossa, the king’s mother, reports a prophetic dream, one in which she sees her son fallen to the dust at the hands of a filly of Greek origin. Soon, the anguish becomes reality: one of the few survivors arrives in Susa and reports the rout of the Persian army off Salamis—Xerxes’s fleet, too numerous, has been surrounded by Athenian ships, and the Persian army has been massacred. In terror, Atossa and the Chorus summon the soul of Xerxes’s deceased father, Darius, from Hades. Finally, Xerxes himself arrives in Susa: humiliated, his clothes torn, the great king intones the funeral lament for the fallen Persian youths.

JUNE