Heracles returns from the Underworld, where he has gone to fetch Cerberus, and discovers that his family has been sentenced to death by Lycus, the illegitimate ruler of Thebes. He triumphantly kills Lycus, but Madness, sent in divine form by Hera, turns him against his family. When he realises that he has killed his wife and children, the tragic hero descends into despair and hopelessness.
The Madness of Heracles is an exciting play, but is one of the least performed of Euripides’ works, and so Michail Marmarinos’s new production, only the second in the history of the Greek National Theatre, will be anticipated with great interest. The production can be seen on 5 and 6 August at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, and then on tour throughout Greece.