Paradise

Philoctetes lives in a cave on a desolate island: the wartime hero is now a wounded outcast. Stranded for ten years, he sees a chance of escape when a young soldier appears with tales of Philoctetes’ past glories. But with hope comes suspicion — and, as an old enemy emerges, he is faced with an even greater temptation: revenge.

Kae Tempest is now widely acknowledged as a revolutionary force in contemporary British poetry, music and drama; they continue to expand the range of their work with a new version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes in a bold new translation. Like ‘Brand New Ancients’ before it, ‘Paradise’ shoes Tempest’s gift for lending the old tales an immediate, contemporary relevance — we will find this timeless story a wide new audience.