The Theater of War

What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today

By: Bryan Doerries

Narrated by: Adam Driver

Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

This compassionate, personal, and illuminating work of nonfiction draws on the author's celebrated work as a director of socially conscious theater to connect listeners with the power of an ancient artistic tradition. For years Bryan Doerries has been producing ancient tragedies for current and returned servicemen and women, addicts, tornado and hurricane victims, and a wide range of other at-risk people in society. Here, drawing on these extraordinary firsthand experiences, Doerries clearly and powerfully illustrates the redemptive and therapeutic potential of this classical, timeless art: how, for example, Ajax can help soldiers and their loved ones grapple with PTSD or how Prometheus Bound provides insights into the modern penal system.

Doerries is an original and magnanimous thinker, and The Theater of War - wholly unsentimental but intensely felt and emotionally engaging - is a humane, knowledgeable, and accessible book that will inspire and inform listeners, showing them that suffering and healing are both parts of a timeless process.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Powerful

It's as powerful as these productions are. We need more people like Mr Doerries in the world. As a classicist, this work also casts Greek drama in a new light.

Thanks,
Cameron

One of the better stories I have listenned to

Bit short and a bit mixed, this could be made into 3 different books,

What really made it interesting are real stories of the real people and their strugle

Wow! So much to learn today from Greek tragedies.

Riveting story and performance by narrator Adam Driver.

We can gain so much from the amazing work Doerries has done to help us as humans, heal the emotional and mental wounds of war, prisons, and end of life— by relating to stories from 2500 years ago.

Times have changed, the human struggle has not.

Genuinely Fascinating

Honestly, I picked this book because Adam Driver narrated it. I am so glad I did. What a phenomenal insight into the human mind and incredibly educational. Highly recommended.

Interesting story of a much-needed project

The book is a story about a project aimed at helping soldiers dealing with PTSD and other mental struggles associated with the theater of war. Although the book starts off this way, the project continues in helping other groups such as prison guards, inmates, and hospital staff.

Bryan Doerries is the author and producer of the project with his experience in theater and his translation of the ancient tragedies. The project links the ancient Greek tragedies with modern-day issues that deal with the same or similar circumstances with regards to the suffering of our soldiers, inmates in our prisons and patients in our hospitals. He starts with PTSD, solitary confinement and comes around to assisted suicide.

This is not a study of Greek theater or the Greek tragedies he uses (primarily Ajax and Prometheus Bound). Rather, it is more about how these Greek tragedies are relevant today with regards to suffering and confronting the pain as a community... all while letting those suffering know they are not forgotten. Although you'll hear excerpts from the plays themselves, it is a very small portion of the entire book.

You'll hear how the author goes about setting up performances for different military installations, prison facilities and then hospitals. You'll hear the problems he comes across and the misunderstandings of those who are skeptical of the project.

Overall a good book for a great well-intentioned project. Well written and well narrated.

Riveting.

I originally got this book because it was narrated by Adam Driver. However, by the end of the first chapter I was hooked both by the subject and the narration. I was moved to tears on many occasions by the author's observations and the stories of the people he was writing about. The narration added to the effect and while I feel this book would be great on its on..the impassioned narration really added and enhanced the feelings and points the author was trying to put across. I just ordered the hard copy version.

Okay

This book had a very interesting concept and I enjoyed learning more about the Greek plays at the core of the narrative. However, the entire book felt more like a big self-congratulatory ad for his plays than anything else. At the end of the book, I felt like I just listened to a nearly six-hour-long commercial and was kind of shocked when the end came and he didn’t close it with something like: did I mention I’m awesome?

Unexpected Enjoyment

Really didn't know what to expect, but really appreciated the author's interpretation of classical works as therapy throughout human history.

Incredible

This was absolutely fantastic, every part of it. The stories were gripping, compelling, and so moving. I cried so many times throughout this book. It spurs one to see how to be more part of the community. How to be and bring light. To listen and to be open to the stories of brokenness and grief all around us. The reading my Adam Driver was completely captivating and riveting. This felt real and personal to him as well, and so well done all around. 10/10 recommend

ok war

thank you,this book was enlightening to my soul. I will have to read it again and again. I could have listened to it for hours more and still not have had enough