Despite a running time that could put you at risk of deep vein thrombosis, Sean Graney’s 12-hour All Our Tragic is primarily an exercise in compression. The production—which is the first to be staged at the Hypocrites’ new space on the ground floor of the Den Theatre—is a loose adaptation of all 32 surviving Greek tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
As in his previous adaptations of Shakespeare and other canonical authors, Graney exhibits zero interest in pleasing purists. He reduces the chorus, for instance, to a trio playing toy instruments on the sidelines. More significantly, the gods are nowhere to be seen, removing any possibility of interpreting the characters as victims of the horny meddlers of Olympus. Instead, destinies are determined by some combination of chance, luck, and the past.
Through 10/15: Fri and Mon 8 PM (one part per day), Sat-Sun 11 AM Den Theatre 1329-1333 N. Milwaukee 773-609-2336the-hypocrites.com $30 for Fri and Mon $75 for Sat-Sun
