The idea of Fate in Greek storytelling was originally taught to me as something always unknowable and unbendable. Pre-ordained at birth, no force could alter it. Bryan Doerries, a writer, translator, and the artistic director of Theater of War, a theatre company dedicated to bringing ancient Greece drama to modern audiences, agrees that this is what most of us get “drilled into our heads in high school.” But he contends, it is not reflective of the true ancient Greek view of Fate. He points out that the Greek word for “fate”–moira–is more accurately translated as “portion” and that to the ancient Greeks, “the concept of fate is not mutually exclusive of the existence of free will.” He offers that, “Fate refers to the cards we were dealt, the portion we were given at birth. Tragedy depicts how our choices and actions shape our destiny.”
This is the story The Burial at Thebes tells. The Fate of our characters, like ours, is not predetermined by some implacable or ungovernable force but rather entirely the product of two equally powerful components: their circumstances–their portion–and the choices they make in response to them. Their circumstances are fixed, but at no time are they bound to make the decisions they do. Sharing the same past, the same portion, the sisters, Antigone and Ismene, choose different paths, leading to different outcomes. Though presented numerous opportunities to relent, Creon’s refusal to change leads to his pitiful end. This tale tells us that while our circumstances may predispose us to certain choices, they do not condemn us to them.
The students who have dedicated the last three months to tonight’s performance have been dealt a challenging portion in their own lives. Climate crises, inequality, injustice, violence, authoritarianism will burden them in the years to come and may narrow their choices. Even as I write this, just a week before our performances begin, I struggle to imagine how different the world might be by the time we reach opening night. The next generation needs to know that this portion is not their Fate. They have a choice. Their work here, and the skills they learn every day in the theatre, will prepare them well and provide the examples of courage and goodness and self-sacrifice to inspire them to rise above their portion. I am so immensely proud of these students, their endless effort, passion, sincerity, and talents. I am without the words to express the tremendous honor that it has been to work with all of them and share this story with you tonight.
My ongoing inspiration throughout this process, I will end with a passage from the Good Book. From Book I, Chapter 2:
‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘ and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’
PHILLIP KORTH
January 17, 2025
