Stories from the Sands

A sharing of new artistic responses to the astonishing find of two 'lost' plays from ancient Greece

In summer 2024, an Egyptian archaeological team made an extraordinary discovery. While excavating an ancient necropolis, they found written fragments of two lost plays by the great playwright Euripides. These fragments represent the most significant find in the study of Greek tragedy for a generation.

Containing around one hundred lines from two different plays linked by the death of children, one passage portrays a woman’s dreadful revenge over her scheming love-rival, while the other depicts a grieving father who cannot accept that death is permanent. Most movingly, the fragments were found in a grave that appears to belong to a mother and child who were buried together some time around the 3rd century CE.

Classicist Professor Laura Swift and theatre company Potential Difference have been working with three outstanding artists whose practices span theatre, game design and visual arts, to explore the many questions posed by these exciting texts.