The Greek Plays 2:
Ajax in Iraq, Kissing the Floor, Penelope, Mercury’s Footpath, and The Oresteia
By Ellen McLaughlin
Available in paperback March 9, 2021
Ellen McLaughlin returns with a new collection of adaptations and modern reimaginings of classic Greek tragedies.
Drawing on works by Sophocles, Homer, Aeschylus and more, these plays breathe fresh life into timeless questions and conflicts that still feel startlingly relevant today: Can civilization survive humanity’s basest instincts? What do we do about the human compulsion toward violence? Are we irreversibly transformed by the trauma of war and political strife, or is there a chance we can recover a part of our former selves? This collection includes the plays Ajax in Iraq (from Sophocles), Kissing the Floor (Sophocles), Penelope (Homer), Mercury’s Footpath (Euripides), and The Oresteia (based on Aeschylus’ trilogy Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides).
Reviews
★★★★★ “If art is a public service, then McLaughlin has served her public well. With Ajax in Iraq she presents a stark truth about the cost of war: while our enemies are those that would do us harm, the greater enemy is war itself.” -Hollywood Reporter on Ajax in Iraq
★★★★★ “Deftly evokes sensations of abandonment, agitation, grief and reconciliation” -The New York Times on Penelope
★★★★★ "Ellen McLaughlin is a dramatist of courage, intelligence, wit and lyricism... Her drama is the drama of witness, predicated on a deep faith in human sympathy: if she can describe precisely what sorrows our wickedness, confusion or indifference occasions, if she can make it possible for us to empathize with others who are suffering, we will surely change our ways and our world." -Tony Kushner
★★★★★ “A hauntingly vivid psychological portrait.” -Pitchfork Magazine on Penelope
★★★★★ “Playwright Ellen McLaughlin’s potent assault on sexual abuse in the military by way of the titular legendary Greek warrior is raw, provocative, poetic and indelible.” -Los Angeles Times on Ajax in Iraq
★★★★★ “Reminds us that a 2,400-year-old work can still feel appallingly familiar.” -The New York Times on The Oresteia