The Theatre of War: what ancient Greek tragedies can teach us today

Classical tragedy is timelessly powerful—not only does it still move us, but it heals, too. Bryan Doerries produces performances of Greek tragedies for soldiers returned from conflict, addicts, prison communities, victims of natural disasters, and other vulnerable people. His dramatisations have explored how the story of Sophocles' Ajax can help today's soldiers and their loved ones grapple with trauma; why people in the penal system are liberated by Prometheus Bound; and how Heracles has changed the way that some doctors manage end-of-life care.

In drawing on such extraordinarily intimate experiences, and in telling his own story of loss and learning, Doerries illustrates the redemptive potential of one of the oldest human art forms and the power of re-enacting. The Theatre of War is a passionate, humane, and purposeful book that shows how suffering and healing are part of an eternally replicable process, and argues that the great tragedies of the Greeks can still light a clear path forward through contemporary society's most tangled issues.