Set in the present day but inspired by ancient myth, Moira Buffini’s Welcome To Thebes offers a passionate exploration of an encounter between the world’s richest and poorest countries, set in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Faced with an impoverished population, a shattered infrastructure and a volatile army, the first democratic president of Thebes, Eurydice, promises peace to her nation. Without the aid of Theseus, the leader of the vastly wealthy state of Athens, she doesn’t stand a chance. But Theseus is arrogant, mercurial and motivated by profit. 

Will Eurydice and her government get what they need for their fledgling state, on terms they can live with? Meanwhile a swaggering opposition circles, impatient for insurrection, the body of the former dictator lies unburied and a boy soldier is carelessly murdered.

Welcome To Thebes stars Nikki Amuka-Bird as Eurydice. Amuka-Bird is familiar to TV viewers for her appearances in Survivors, Small Island, Torchwood and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, while she was recently seen on stage in The Gods Weep for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

David Harewood, who plays Theseus, recently starred in the Laurence Olivier Award-winning play The Mountaintop. His National Theatre credits include Othello and His Dark Materials, while he has been seen on screen in Mrs Mandela, Robin Hood and Babyfather.

Welcome To Thebes is directed by former National Theatre Artistic Director Richard Eyre.

For more about Welcome To Thebes at the National Theatre read the First Night Feature or Big Interview with Nikki Amuka-Bird.