Thebes: exploration of setting

Welcome to Thebes by Moira Buffini is a greek tragedy set in the 21st century, the whole of society has broken down in Thebes after years of brutal civil war. After the death of the ruling warlord Polynices his sister Eurydice is elected as president, she is left with the task of rebuilding Thebes by asking for the help of Athens, a rich country whose leader Theseus visits Thebes which is the premise of the play. There is very little said by Moira about the setting of the play only that it is in the 21st century, the national theatre set theirs in Somalia however it is the designers choice. After reading the play i realised that for the context of the play to make sense it needed to be set in a war torn country in which the government and whole of the social structure had broke down. I researched many current wars and war photographers to see if there were any visually inspiring images of one particular country. After stumbling across the photographers Burke + Norfolk of the afghanistan war I decided this was the country I wanted to set my project.

This is an extract from his website

‘John Burke (1843?-1900) was the first ever photographer to make pictures in Afghanistan. He accompanied British forces during the invasion that became the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878-1880 producing a small number of albums of prints for sale to the general public.’

‘Unsurprisingly, the British military out there know almost nothing about the history of Britain’s multiple, pointless and cruel wars waged over Afghanistan, whereas the Afghans know all about it, and they are very proud of that knowledge. They know the names of the generals and the brutalities they enacted; the victories and the defeats. This lack of a historical perspective on the part of the West allows them to blunder back for the fourth time thinking that you can turn Afghans into western liberal democrats and feminists by bombing them.’- Simon Norfolk

The way in which john burke and simon Norfolk spoke of the Afghan war made me want to focus more on the hypocritical way in which the western world invaded afghanistan on ‘moral’ mission but often made the situation worse and more volatile after causing friction with their past actions in that country, such as the three anglo-afghan wars. I felt there were many similarities within welcome to Thebes such as the athenian visitors who believe they are helping the thebians however during the war gave many of them arms that fuelled the fighting. Also Eurydice the new president courts both spartans and athenians to get the best deal much like many afghan leaders did with the soviet union and america.

This led me to a documentary by the BBC called Bitter lake by Adam Curtis on the complex struggles and western input in the conflict of Afghanistan, this strong imagery I’m sure will take vital role in the development of this project.