Racine's French dramatic tragedy, taken from Greek Mythology was first written in 1677.  The Lyric produced the piece in 1969, introducing Roma Tomelty to the Lyric stage, with direction by Janos Nyiri. 

Nyiri wrote the novel Battlefields and Playgrounds which was recognised by The Observer as one of the most important novels written by a Holocaust survivor, after he was liberated by the Red Army in 1945. Nyiri went on to be a theatre director, journalist and writer before he died in 2002.