THE PERSIANS

At the Michael Schimmel Center at Pace University, Spruce Street. Telecharge, (212) 239-6200. Through June 22.

‘THE Persians,” now being given an excellent revival by the National Actors Theatre, is the oldest play in Western literature.

Written by Aeschylus in 472 B.C., it’s a historical work, not a mythical one, about the naval defeat of the huge Persian fleet by the small but clever Greek navy off the island of Salamis, near Athens.

Aeschylus sets the play in Susa, the Persian capital, where the court gradually recognizes impending disaster.

A chorus of seven men recite the list of Persian admirals and hope that all goes well. But Persia’s Queen Mother, Atossa, has an unsettling dream about a strange, kingless place – Athens – and soon a Persian soldier staggers in to tell of the disaster at Salamis.

Enter the ghost of the Persian king Darius, Atossa’s dead husband, who curses his rash son Xerxes as a “murderous fool.”

Finally, in slinks Xerxes himself, in defeat, disagrace and rags, to be led away by his mother.

It’s all well-played, with Roberta Maxwell making a powerful Atossa, Brennan Brown a fine Persian solder and Len Cariou, a fierce Darius.

The National Actors Theatre is to be commended for this rare staging, directed with impressive majesty by Ethan McSweeny and translated with force, though with many little additions, by Ellen McLaughlin.

All in all, a terrific and rare piece of theater.