Herakles Via Phaedra

In Herakles Via Phaedra, Herakles must prove his godliness and atone for a hideous crime against his wife and two sons by performing a series of twelve labors, from killing a fierce lion to bare-handedly capturing a three-headed dog. Meanwhile in the court of Aphrodite, a handmaiden named Phaedra sets out to win the heart of a king, only to find herself falsely accused of having a love affair with her stepson. Herakles and Phaedra’s stories intertwine, leading one to a tragic end and the other to glory.

Adapted and directed by Ellen Stewart, who describes this production as a “dance-theatre epic,” it combines the myths of Herakles and Phaedra, placing them amongst the flappers, bootleggers, and jazz babies of the 1920s.