By Christopher Fry

Set in antiquity, in a tomb at night, it concerns Dynamene who has determined to starve herself to death so she can join her recently deceased husband in the underworld. She’s accompanied by her maidservant Doto, who has agreed to die with her mistress, but has very mixed feelings about the whole business. Dynamene’s ‘tragic’ air is contrasted with Doto’s wry and witty reflections on the whole idea. Into this walks Tegeus, a soldier on duty guarding six dead criminals recently hung on nearby gibbets. Both encouraged and teased by Doto, a romance develops between Dynamene and Tegeus and the play ends with a neat twist to solve a serious problem for Tegus that’s arisen in the night, and a turn for life rather than death for all three characters.