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By
Harriet Mancey-Barratt
The
Trojan War has ended, with the Greeks sacking Troy and killing its
heroes. Euripides takes for his subject the women left hanging in
a period of time between war and effective rape. Grief-stricken
and utterly powerless, these women are the political and sexual
pawns of the enemy. Strange though it may sound, this anguish is
brilliantly portrayed by the all-female chorus through a mixture
of ancient song, ballet and electro-punk. The triumph of this production
is this eclectic merging of influences to create a whole that is
simultaneously dramatically surprising and gratifying.
Elisabeth
Gray as Andromache, Hector聮s widow, stands out as the woman
broken by loss who must yet retain a sense of her noble duty. Hecuba
is also superb as the aged queen of Troy, an embodiment of the Trojan
race聮s mixture of anger, confusion and grief. The dramatic
realisation of her daughter Cassandra, 聭mad, beautiful and
dangerous聮, was frankly fantastic - eerily fascinating and
absolutely engaging.
Described
by Edith Hamilton as 聭the greatest anti-war play ever written聮,
this is an insightful portrayal of sexual and military politics
and the inherent tragedy of a woman聮s situation. Euripides聮
play was far ahead of its time, but much praise must also go to
Avery Willis, whose translation was appropriately majestic without
being too impenetrable for a modern audience.
So
much attention to detail has evidently gone into every aspect of
this production, meaning that the final play is intellectually intriguing
as well as dramatically mesmerizing. The play, pertinent to a wider
mythical context as it is, yet stands alone as an examination of
human nature under immense pressure and the status of military prisoners
under the thrall of their enemies. I cannot recommend it highly
enough. This marvellous production is on until Saturday 聳 book
it now.
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