Some volumes in this series are like those of other publishers: for example, Sophocles in two volumes; some are of individual plays; others, especially more recent collections, gather plays in less predictable groupings. The volume under review is a good example: it includes three late plays, all longer than average, that show ‘striking similarities of theme and style’, as well as complex plots, original use of myth, a vivid sense of place and exciting ideas (pp. xxi–xxiii of Wright's introduction). Orestes comes last in this compilation, and that is where I started because I had published a translation of that play in Hackett's Greek tragedies. The translation of Orestes is not just readable, but so pleasurable that I found myself stopping to read passages aloud. At several crucial points I was taken aback by strikingly idiomatic language, an acknowledged aspect of Euripidean style: for example, ‘He's the real thing’ (946, Greek 921); ‘So he played it cool’ (1091, Greek 1059); ‘That's the deal’ (1708, Greek 1560); see also 439, 1060, 1600. To capture the pun on Apollo's name and the word apôlesen (977, Greek 955): ‘he's cast a pall on you’. The infamous line 285 (Greek 279) which the actor mangled hilariously is cleverly translated, but I will not spoil the reader's fun by disclosing it here.

Most impressive and pleasing are the rhythms of both dialogue and, especially, odes and other sung passages, which use various ‘English rhythms to reflect changes in meter in the Greek originals’ (Translator's preface, p. xxxvii). In the passage of Orestes for which musical notation is extant, A.S. follows the metre of the Greek to help any reader who might want to recreate the sound of the original. Music, metre and performance are well served everywhere in the versions, the introduction and notes. Throughout, in strophic songs, the translator adheres to responsion and does so with lyric aplomb. This example from Helen must suffice:

Ion is equally fine, but space precludes a long discussion. The words and songs of the young Ion charmingly present his naivety, piety, inquisitiveness and kindness. And the whole play sings with compassion.

As a textbook for college-level courses onwards, the volume is excellent: notes and introduction are especially helpful on contemporary philosophy and theology, recurring motifs, parallels to other plays and stage effects (though I must take exception to the term ‘clunky stage machinery’ [p. vii]: it was, after all, state of the art). The logos-ergon dichotomy so prominent in Euripides’ thought, is emphasised in the notes and the words of the plays. The translator's preface and the translations themselves are full of passion and humour, enjoyment and love of language (English and Greek). Both contributors are at pains to make not only the scripts, but also the scholarship accessible to interested readers who are not professional Classicists, and the endnotes, explaining the translator's choices and textual matters, will be enlightening to scholars too. I recommend these plays, all of which offer revisionist takes on the traditional stories, and these engaging translations to both readers and teachers in our era of ‘alternative realities’.