Seven Against Thebes is a classic, ancient Greek tragedy written in the 5th century B.C. As such we rely on translations, adaptations and abridgements to explore the story. It seems that the first known published translation into English was in 1777 and about 600 pages long. Since this version was about 90 minutes and no translation or abridgement is acknowledged in the playbill we are left to assume that all of the critical decisions were those of Director John DeBenedetto. Many of those decisions leave the audience perplexed.
Seven Against Thebes were seven Greek Mythological heroes tasked with conquering Thebes for the King’s son. Although I am not very familiar with the play, this makes me fairly certain that much of the original play revolves around the failed individual attempts of those heroes to achieve their goal. But DeBenedetto’s production concentrates on the defense of Thebes rather than on the attacks. This does to seem to be a way to generate energy and anticipation from the audience. The lack of chorus creates confusion that that is never made clear.
The cast of five does an admirable job with the script it is given. The modern costumes, minimal set and emphasis on the male form perhaps could create an interesting interpretation. Here the chosen script makes that success is illusive.
ARTIUM: OMNI 