People's Light presents "The Persians," a tale of losers

Sometimes, as they say, you had to be there. The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus was there. He witnessed a piece of the Persian wars against Greece - in fact, he was a soldier - and he spun one pivotal battle into what historians label the world's oldest surviving play.

The Persians, being staged by People's Light & Theatre Company in a stiff modern version that reflects the way Aeschylus wrote it, opened in Athens 2,480 years ago. It was part of a trilogy staged at the festival dedicated to the god of theater, Dionysius, where it won first prize.

The Battle of Salamis that drives Aeschylus' plot was a Goliath-vs.-David affair and, in the end, a debacle for the well-supplied Persians, who thought they'd easily trample Athens' much slighter forces. Persia (now Iran) was stunningly crushed, leaving the Greeks to go about their experiment with democracy.

Consider, then, how struck an audience must have been in 472 B.C. to see a play about real events, not just mythical characters, and - this is the clincher - told from the other side. The Persians is a piece of theatrical poetry in which the losing side first worries about the battle, then explodes with woe after learning the outcome. In the play, which you can read or skim on the Internet and elsewhere in several translations, the losers have their say.

People's Light is courageous, tackling the play admirably in a contemporary version by actress-playwright Ellen McLaughlin, who was commissioned to adapt The Persians by Tony Randall and his National Actors Theatre in 2003. With care, she mirrors Aeschylus' form - both the order in which he tells the story and the way he tells it.

And that's not altogether a good thing. The play is probably more affecting as a piece of literature than a staged work. For all the tribulations it enumerates, and all the beautiful language it employs to conjure painful loss, it's distant - impossible, really, to feel. For a modern sensibility, both the original and the adaptation are overstuffed with flowery language; moreover, the war is talked about but never shown, like watching political commentary but not once seeing a candidate.

It unfolds on a wide set of sand-covered stairs outside the Persian palace, where the queen (Melanye Finister, regal in the face of calamity) and her counselors wring their hands with worry.

In comes a messenger (Miriam Hyman, in a monologue she delivers with appropriate recoiling) to confirm their worst fears. Everyone summons forth the shade of the late king, Darius (a forceful Stephen Novelli), who calms but does not comfort them. Finally, the leader of the routed forces, Xerxes (Mark Hairston, properly downtrodden), returns to confront his shame.

The rest of the cast - mostly People's Light stalwarts - acquit themselves well as they reel at the magnitude of loss. They speak of empty streets where "a cat skitters from shadow to shadow" or describe . . . and describe . . . and describe "the magnificence of our destruction." At one point, the queen's palace is "a shining box of emptiness." The stream of rarefied phrases begins to pummel you like an Athenian phalanx.

The Persians is only 75 minutes, but even Jade King Carroll's fluid staging can't keep it from flagging considerably after about 40, a metronome with a draining battery. Plus, you have to wonder about the play's very premise - why are the leaders of this bellicose nation so shocked by the very same horrors of war they usually cause? What about the notion of hypocrisy? Aeschylus, you were there. Where are you when we need you?

The Persians

Through Oct. 19 at People's Light & Theatre, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. Tickets: $29-$48. Information: 610-644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org.