This summer's Philippi Festival programme included a staging of Aeschylus' tragedy "The Persians," one of the oldest surviving plays in the Western dramatic tradition, at the Ancient Theatre of Philippi. The production continued the festival's core mission of bringing classical Greek drama back to the theatre where performances resumed in 1957 after centuries of silence. Festival organisers say tragedy productions remain the backbone of the programme even as contemporary and musical works have expanded around them in recent years.