James Taris

The Glory of Athens: The humour and inspiration of the ancient Greeks James Taris

A company is in crisis. Ancient Athens is too. But they're 2500 years apart! Can a time traveller save them both from extinction? The Glory of Athens is a comedy on overcoming adversity that has six Ancient Greek geniuses come back to life and display the characteristics that made them so successful. The six characters include Pericles, Archimedes, Socrates, Demosthenes, Homer and Odysseus. The play has some hilarious monologues from these six characters and Demi, a modern-day accountant, who is burdened with a seemingly impossible task. The year is 2004 and Athens Inc. has chosen Demi to revitalise their ailing sales force by giving them an inspiring speech leading them into a new era of sales success. But 'sales' is something Demi has absolutely no knowledge of and is overwhelmed by his new responsibility. In a desperate bid for help, Demi prays to God, who sends the Ancient Greek goddess Athena to his aid. She gives Demi a bag of magical items which enable him to go back into time, around 440 BC, when the Parthenon was being built, and see these ancient Greek geniuses in action, though not exactly how he had imagined them to be. If you're expecting a history lesson, you'll be sadly disappointed as The Golden Age of Greece is populated by trade slave trade unions, mobile phones and Teli-visions. INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED, THIS PLAY WAS PERFORMED AT THE LEE STRASBERG THEATER IN HOLLYWOOD FOR THE GREEK AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY OF LOS ANGELES AND 9 OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.