The Labourers of Herakles

The Labourers of Herakles
The Labourers of Herakles
Written by	Tony Harrison
Date premiered	23 August 1995
Place premiered	Delphi, Greece
Original language	English and Ancient Greek

The Labourers of Herakles is a 1995 play created by English poet and playwright Tony Harrison.^[2] It is partially based on remaining fragments of tragedies by ancient Greek dramatist Phrynichos, one of the earliest tragedians.^[3] Harrison's play deals with genocide and ethnic cleansing and uses Heracles's filicide as a metaphor for the unspeakable horrors of war and man's inhumanity to man.

Immediately after the 23 August performance of his play at Delphi Harrison left for a frontline assignment to witness the Bosnian War and write poems for the atrocities in an assignment commissioned by The Guardian. The proximity of the theatre of war to the Delphi location of the performance of his play and his preoccupation with his war-assignment are cited as reasons the direction and execution of his play were influenced by the war and its atrocities. The 1995 performance of the play at Delphi, Greece, took place at the construction site of the new theatre for the European Cultural Centre of Delphi.^[4]

The play was sponsored by the Herakles General Cement Company of Greece.^[1]^[5] It was produced in co-operation with the European Cultural Centre of Delphi and the National Theatre Studio as an entry at the Eighth International Meeting on Ancient Greek Drama which featured participants such as Tadashi Suzuki and Heiner Müller and is also known as the Delphi Drama Olympics.^[2]^[4]

^ ^a ^b Harrison, Tony (Spring 1996). "The Labourers of Herakles". Arion. 4 (1): 115–154. JSTOR 20163603.
^ ^a ^b Peter Holland (16 October 2003). Shakespeare Survey: Volume 56, Shakespeare and Comedy: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production. Cambridge University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-521-82727-0. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
^ Steve Padley (18 September 2008). ""Hijacking Culture": Tony Harrison and the Greeks". Cycnos. Le théâtre britannique au tournant du millénaire -. Cycnos | Volume 18 n°1 Le théâtre britannique au tournant du millénaire -.
^ ^a ^b Kathleen Riley (24 April 2008). The Reception and Performance of Euripides' Herakles : Reasoning Madness: Reasoning Madness. OUP Oxford. pp. 340–341. ISBN 978-0-19-156001-9. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
^ "The Hercules Project". Faculty of Arts University of Leeds.

[Tony_Harrison-1] Harrison, Tony (Spring 1996). "The Labourers of Herakles". Arion. 4 (1): 115–154. JSTOR 20163603.

[Holland2003-2] Peter Holland (16 October 2003). Shakespeare Survey: Volume 56, Shakespeare and Comedy: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production. Cambridge University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-521-82727-0. Retrieved 30 May 2013.

[Steve_Padley-3] Steve Padley (18 September 2008). ""Hijacking Culture": Tony Harrison and the Greeks". Cycnos. Le théâtre britannique au tournant du millénaire -. Cycnos | Volume 18 n°1 Le théâtre britannique au tournant du millénaire -.

[Riley2008-4] Kathleen Riley (24 April 2008). The Reception and Performance of Euripides' Herakles : Reasoning Madness: Reasoning Madness. OUP Oxford. pp. 340–341. ISBN 978-0-19-156001-9. Retrieved 31 May 2013.

[U_of_Leeds-5] "The Hercules Project". Faculty of Arts University of Leeds.

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