Some questions are eternal . For example, antiquity. In Aischylo's drama with the premiere in 463 BC, Danao's 50 daughters flee to seek protection on another coast. In Greek Argos, they ask for King Pelasgo's help to escape an enforced marriage with the Egyptian cousins.
The new country regards them as strangers, but they claim that they, like the Greeks, are children of Zeus. Pelasgo's hand over to the people to decide if they have the right to asylum.
The seventeen women who, under Sandra Stojilkovic's leadership, have a joint lead role at Malmö City Theater form the play's very core hub. In modern clothes and colorful shawls they take the round stage with crystal clear determination and bodily pregnancy. Like a sea wave, they sweep forward - they take their seats and don't apologize.
Here we can leave all thoughts of traditional Hollywood dramaturgy there. Not much happens during the trembling minutes of the show. Instead, there is room for the rite and the magic. As a fuel, John Browne's repetitive music is performed by a live trio of percussion and winds on stage.
It is an exciting set. The women of the choir are young amateurs who have applied to the theater from different parts of Malmö and have grown into a body for six months. In this collective, who speak, sing, dance and clap their hands, the individuals become visible from time to time, the ones we first consider as a group becoming individuals each with their life history. Bravely and solidly, they defy time, space and common law to fight for democracy and human dignity.
Without clear references, thoughts go to today's vulnerable groups and refugee policies. Antiquity is alive. Used properly, it can give us power to change.