Alcestis is the heroine of a tragedy with a happy ending, written in 438 BC by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. Despite its age, the work is still surprisingly relevant and attempts, in a subtle and ambiguous manner, to answer fundamental existential questions about death, loss and the role of women in a male-dominated society. Alcestis sacrifices her own life for her weak husband and voluntarily descends to the underworld in his place in order to save him from death. Dissatisfied with his uninvited guest, the irascible demigod Heracles dismisses her from the house of woe and restores her to life. This version of Alcestis, adapted by Lada Kaštelan for Dubrovnik’s Marin Držić Theatre, plunges deeper into the essence of Euripides’s mysterious messages and sensitively discloses them without proffering simple answers. The play is directed by the internationally acclaimed Slovene director Livija Pandur, the winner of the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists’ lifetime achievement award in 2018, who divides her professional life among Slovenia, Spain and Croatia.