Demos I

"In 2011 the Greek Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou decides to put the EU recovery plan with its stringent austerity measures to a popular referendum. Events then take a dramatic turn. Europe's higher powers intervene and literally strike him down; he must cancel the referendum and leave the stage. Post-democracy is born. In his play The Greeks Volker Braun presents this action as if from antiquity and deploys his customary linguistic intensity, bringing Greek myth into contact with the contemporary political scene. The play premiered in German at the Berliner Ensemble in 2016 under the direction of Manfred Karge. It appears here in print for the first time."--Publisher's website.