Review: School of Night's, HELLAS, Is A Triumph of Stylized Storytelling

School of Night’s, HELLAS, is quite a history lesson. And it is as fascinating as the symbolic resonance of courage, sacrifice and resistance against overwhelming odds, that the Battle of Thermopolae itself inspired. By default, the play examines the birth of Democracy which has a lot of downside in critical moments as it does benefits.

The epic marathon production written by playwright Christopher William Johnson is set in early fifth-century, ancient Greece. It puts a bit more context into the politics that led up to the battle at the Hot Gates, which was stylistically romantisized in the movie, “300” (starring Gerard Butler, Dominic West, Lena Heady and a host of star-power actors).  Spanning more than a decade in the writing, Johnson also brings in the subsequent battles of Salamis and then Plateau, where Sparta and Athena united their armies and naval fleets (creating the Delian League) and defeated the Persian invasion. The battle of Thermopylae, though a military defeat, had a significant psychological impact on the Greeks. And, it ultimately inspired the unification of the two vastly different, and warring regions against their common enemy.  HELLAS, tones down the battle grandeur and instead, elevates the complicated and often queasy inter-relationships of heads of state and their personal melo-dramas.

In the expansive timeline of HELLAS, more than one good leader somehow is framed as bad. And a few who do nothing but delay any decisive action, almost failing the people and losing the war, somehow emerge as heroes.  It is the teeter totter of a free state which also lends a warning to anyone paying attention.  One that is even echoing today. You cannot take freedom for granted.

As a point of interest, Greek poet and tragediean Aeschylus also appears in the play. In real life, it is Aeschylus who actually wrote a first hand account of the Persian Wars. Although, he was not at Thermopolae, he fought in both the land battle of Marathon (490 BC) and the naval battle of Salamis (480 BC).  His play, THE PERSIANS, was produced shortly after the Battle of Salamis.

That being said, I had some initial doubts about plunging into this performance.  HELLAS is a five and a half hour commitment.  I wasn’t sure how well it was going to engage audiences at such length in a single day. (You can see this production, though, in two parts/two days as well).

But there are three intermissions and a script drawn, so well, by its author, that the presentation is largely unburdened by dramatic heaviness. Instead, the players work within the technique of mask and archetypes which lends heightened expression and so many more interesting layers to the characters and situations.  It creates genuine suspension of disbelief and allows the more than 10-year span of time to move quickly without losing substance or continuity of all that happens.  In fact, it is exactly School of Night’s true and brilliant wheelhouse.

HELLAS, in its entirety, is quite impressive, including several of its leading figures.  Scott Bartling brings to (larger than) life a somewhat psychotic Xsyarsa (Xerxes) who is cruel, tyrannical and cowardly. Bartling’s portrayal is keen and meticulous. He changes from the mask of a young insecure Prince to egomaniacal King. Once ascended to the throne, Xerxes becomes a religious fanatic who is completely dilettante in the affairs of state.  Jen Albert, who is the show’s lauded fight choreographer is also one of the best characters on stage as Artemisia.  Her character work is flawless. But it is Colin A. Borden who plays the oft heroic and most oft shifty, Athenian Themistokles and also Dawn Alden as Atossa, the aggressive and vengeful mother of Xerxes, whose powerful performances exquisitely hover well above the life of the script.  All of these are only rivaled by drummer, Chloe Madriaga, whose live, percussive sound and vocal cues, are invested in every moment of the presentation.

School of Night’s, HELLAS, achieves the unfathomable.  Through the writing capability of its playwright, HELLAS diligently and successfully compacts a collossal saga into a digestible narrative of scale and verse.  And it does this in a single, half-day.  Reminiscent in style of their tour de force, (2016 Hollywood Fringe debut) PUNCH AND JUDY, it is done so, ingeniously through mask, making it a triumph of theatrical storytelling.

HIGHLY RECOMENDED

****IMPORTANT TICKET INFORMATION, PLEASE READ!****

Hellas is a marathon theatrical epic presented, as in the ancient Greece it depicts, over a single day. Meaning, the show will start at 2pm and end at approximately 7:30pm. And will be presented with 3 intermissions. This is the intended and preferred format School of Night would like you to experience. These tickets are called, “The Complete Saga.”  The Complete Saga is only offered on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Limited engagement:  April 12 - May 11, 2025.  TICKETS

However, it is understood that schedules and bodies require different needs. So, if marathon theatre is not within your capacity, audiences are invited to see Part One and Part Two on alternating Fridays. 4/25 and 5/2 for Part One or 5/9 for Part Two.

Those tickets can be purchased separately and are called “Part One” or “Part Two.” You can mix and match which Fridays you’d like to attend. Seeing these shows out of order is NOT recommend.

***Content Warning: Depictions of violence and sexual abuse.***

HELLAS

Written by Christopher William Johnson. Produced and Fight Choreography by Jen Albert.

SPARTANS

Leonidas – Daniel Adomian
Kleomenes – Sebastian Sage
Demaratus – Rich Dally III
Queen Gorgo – Sara Gorsky
Pausanias – Keegan Gray Hughes
Dienekes, Pythian Kuroko – Klinton Buechele
Dienekes, Pythian Kuroko – Christian Sanders
Amompheratus, Alpheus – Emily Grace Gargiulo
Maron, Greek Citizen, Persian/Immortal Soldier – Jesse Corwin

ATHENIANS

Themistokles– Colin A Borden
Aeschylus – Mathias Blake
Miltiades – Jordan Liebowitz
Callimachus – Gordon Meacham
Aristides – Dan Wingard
Kimon – Brandon Zicker

PERSIANS

Xsyarsa – Scott Bartling
Artemisia, Priest – Jen Albert
Atossa – Dawn Alden
King Darius – Thomas Bigley
Artobazanus, Ambassador #1, Magi – Anand Mahalingam
Mardonius – Tristan Rewald
Haxamanis, Pythia, Dancer, Helot – Ruju Dani
Irtasduna, Priestess of Artemis, Efialtes, Athena – Angelika Giatras

MUSICIAN