First Aired: December 30, 2001

“Tantalus: Behind the Mask” charts the angst-ridden seven months of rehearsals for “Tantalus,” a 10-hour, 10-play Trojan War dramatic marathon at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Going in, director Peter Hall conceded that this production of playwright John Burton's epic cycle could have turned out to be a “most awful thing.” It didn't, but its success was hard-earned, as this fascinating “making of” documentary clearly shows. The chief casualty is the Hall-Burton friendship. The experience, says Hall, was “one that I wouldn't gladly relive.”