The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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Alcestis

Alcestis (Alkestis)

Author: Euripides

First Performance: 438 BC, Athens

First English Translation: 1759

Genre: Greek drama in verse

Setting: Palace of King Admetus, mythical past

Cast: 7m, 2f, extras, chorus (m/f)

In the Prologue Apollo reveals that Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, will have to die unless he can find someone prepared to take his place in the underworld. No one is willing to make this sacrifice, not even his elderly parents, until his wife Alcestis offers her life for his. Already Thanatos, the God of Death, is approaching to claim her life, despite Apollo's pleas for her to be spared. The devoted Alcestis is resolved to perish, and having extracted from Admetus the promise that he will not remarry, she dies. Heracles now arrives and is treated as a welcome guest, unaware that the house is...

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