“The Trojan Women”
There has been a recent mini-revival of “The Trojan Women”. Even though this play by Euripides dates from 415 B.C., its theme is topical. That is unfortunate in this case, since it deals with the anguish and destruction that war leaves in its wake.
As with all productions of Euripides, the performance at DeSales University last weekend is a modern interpretation. We can only guess how the music sounded, or how his works were actually presented. In any case, the text holds up remarkably well, again unhappily, since victims of war have existed for over two thousand years.
“The Trojan Women” is believed to be Euripides’s response to the historical destruction of the settlement of the island of Melos by Athens, as part of its on-going battle with Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars. The play’s story uses the earlier Trojan War as an allegory, however.
Those familiar with the Iliad and the Odyssey would recognize many references in this work. Interestingly, many of the heroes of both books, including Odysseus, are villains instead of heroes in the eyes of the conquered women.
This version of the play opens as Hecuba (Elizabeth McLenigan), widow of King Priam, laments her future as a captive and slave by the victorious Greeks. She is joined onstage by the seven women of the chorus, who share a similar fate. McLenigan’s realistic performance as an older woman made it difficult to believe that she was a college student, as were the rest of the cast.
The set designed by Michael Smola for the Arena Stage of the Labuda Center, matched the bleakness of the action, showing ruins of mostly off white mixed with gray and brown. Costume designer Lisa M. Gosnell used the same colors, featuring the women dressed alike in brown rags.
The Greek herald Talthybius (Beni Artreche) knocks at the gate throughout the play bearing bad news. The first time he and his four soldiers drag out Hecuba’s daughter Cassandra (Megan A. Ziminisky), a priestess who has gone mad with grief and threatens revenge against the Greeks.
Ziminisky’s long monologues of rage and grief would have seemed over the top in a modern play, but her shattering emotions seemed appropriate here.
Talthybius and his men take Cassandra but return the second time to claim and kill Astyanax (Meredith Lipson), the young son of Andromache (Jessica L. Conrad). Conrad gave a restrained but compelling portrayal of a woman who wishes only to be dutiful and respected, but finds herself a victim of uncontrollable forces. Later the body of Astyanax, who has been killed offstage, is returned for burial.
On the next visit, Menelaus (Matthew Breiner) comes to claim his wife Helen (Mary Beth Menna), whose desertion caused the Trojan War. In a complex and powerful exchange, Menna defended Helen’s selfish behavior, and nearly made it seem justified. Breiner deftly showed the complex struggle of a man whose rage was tempered by an unresolved vestige of love (or lust) for his wife.
The inevitable ending has the characters witnessing the destruction of Troy by fire, and the women being taken to ships to be transported as spoils of war.
Director Anne Hagerty Lewis’s decision to cut the play to an hour length was appropriate (this version was complied from four or five different alternatives). For example, the opening argument among the Greek gods would have detracted from the immediacy of the drama.
What was left was an overall sense of how it feels to be caught in the grip of a senseless war beyond the control of its victims, a feeling that is as modern as it is despair-provoking.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
As with all productions of Euripides, the performance at DeSales University last weekend is a modern interpretation. We can only guess how the music sounded, or how his works were actually presented. In any case, the text holds up remarkably well, again unhappily, since victims of war have existed for over two thousand years.
“The Trojan Women” is believed to be Euripides’s response to the historical destruction of the settlement of the island of Melos by Athens, as part of its on-going battle with Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars. The play’s story uses the earlier Trojan War as an allegory, however.
Those familiar with the Iliad and the Odyssey would recognize many references in this work. Interestingly, many of the heroes of both books, including Odysseus, are villains instead of heroes in the eyes of the conquered women.
This version of the play opens as Hecuba (Elizabeth McLenigan), widow of King Priam, laments her future as a captive and slave by the victorious Greeks. She is joined onstage by the seven women of the chorus, who share a similar fate. McLenigan’s realistic performance as an older woman made it difficult to believe that she was a college student, as were the rest of the cast.
The set designed by Michael Smola for the Arena Stage of the Labuda Center, matched the bleakness of the action, showing ruins of mostly off white mixed with gray and brown. Costume designer Lisa M. Gosnell used the same colors, featuring the women dressed alike in brown rags.
The Greek herald Talthybius (Beni Artreche) knocks at the gate throughout the play bearing bad news. The first time he and his four soldiers drag out Hecuba’s daughter Cassandra (Megan A. Ziminisky), a priestess who has gone mad with grief and threatens revenge against the Greeks.
Ziminisky’s long monologues of rage and grief would have seemed over the top in a modern play, but her shattering emotions seemed appropriate here.
Talthybius and his men take Cassandra but return the second time to claim and kill Astyanax (Meredith Lipson), the young son of Andromache (Jessica L. Conrad). Conrad gave a restrained but compelling portrayal of a woman who wishes only to be dutiful and respected, but finds herself a victim of uncontrollable forces. Later the body of Astyanax, who has been killed offstage, is returned for burial.
On the next visit, Menelaus (Matthew Breiner) comes to claim his wife Helen (Mary Beth Menna), whose desertion caused the Trojan War. In a complex and powerful exchange, Menna defended Helen’s selfish behavior, and nearly made it seem justified. Breiner deftly showed the complex struggle of a man whose rage was tempered by an unresolved vestige of love (or lust) for his wife.
The inevitable ending has the characters witnessing the destruction of Troy by fire, and the women being taken to ships to be transported as spoils of war.
Director Anne Hagerty Lewis’s decision to cut the play to an hour length was appropriate (this version was complied from four or five different alternatives). For example, the opening argument among the Greek gods would have detracted from the immediacy of the drama.
What was left was an overall sense of how it feels to be caught in the grip of a senseless war beyond the control of its victims, a feeling that is as modern as it is despair-provoking.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)