The University Theatre presented Trojan Women last week at the Seney-Stovall Chapel. Advertised as a modern portrayal of Euripides’ ancient work, I was eager to compare it to my previous encounters with the severe masks and stylized movements of Greek drama. His play Medea is the stuff of today’s soap operas, yet the rigid action-less storytelling of the Greek stage strips even its most profane moments of their magnitude.
When the chanting began, the plays participants entered the aisles and stage amidst a frenzied un-cohesive dance. “Modern,” in the vein of avant-garde, I was pleasantly surprised with what followed. Their coalescence of modern stage performance with a script that remained true to the original Greek succeeded in breathing new life into a drama whose message transcends centuries.
The production, Prologue, Iphigenia in Aulis and Trojan Women came from Part One of John Barton and Kenneth Cavender’s The Greeks, produced in 1980. While staying true to Euripides’ dialogue and plot, the script uses original arrangement to add clarity to the story. The prologue laid the groundwork and history to provide audience understanding of the events leading up to the Trojan War. Told in a conversational manner, the muses dictate the gods’ displeasure with and inability to keep from interfering with mortal lives. The juxtaposition of Iphiginia in Aulis next to Trojan Women focuses on the heartbreaking toll that warfare has on the families of those involved but strategically remains objective by granting acknowledgement to the personal sacrifices of both sides.
The costume choice was varied. While the muses and the goddesses wore typical Greek attire (tunics and a more feminine take on the toga—in cut and color) the other characters wore 20th century clothing used to clarify their characters identity. For example, Agamemnon and Achilles both donned army fatigues, making it very clear their roles as soldiers. Hecuba was adorned in an early nineties prom dress as representation of her now null position of Troy’s queen.
Like an original 415 BCE performance, the set contained few stage props. Ropes and cloth were manipulated to represent a variety of objects. Achilles brandished a dagger and the Old Man presented a small tape recorder that held Agamemnon’s plans to sacrifice his daughter and keep it from his wife. These little extras remained simple but still added to the storytelling without deviating from the vein in which Euripides’ intended his tragedy to be told.
The starkest difference in the presentation of this play was the selective use of masks and amount of passion with which the play was delivered. Confusion and disbelief clouded the face of Cheryldee Huddleston (Clymenestra) as she began to realize the state of Agamemnon’s (played by Derrick Causey) camp. I was most impressed by Monica Padman’s portrayal of Iphigenia. When Achilles realizes the extent of her beauty and joins in her mother’s cries for justice she shook as she begged them to stop and declared that she “gladly [gave] herself to Athena!”
“This will be my wedding night!” As she proclaimed the benefits of being a ‘free’ woman versus a slave to lust and love as so many were – (thus causing the war itself) her mannerisms and quiet diligence with which she delivered her monologue left you thinking that she really meant it—that she was a willing participant in the sacrificial ceremony.
The same could be said of Amy Roeder’s depiction of Hecuba. As a queen who has been dethroned she begs her ladies to truly see the fate that they had been dealt. “Wake up!” she cries. “Wake up! You are widows!” Her emotional outcry sums up the despair of which the entire production emulates. Even the strongest voices lose their magnitude when emotion is hidden behind a mask. The desperate cries of both groups of women, begging the gods for justice would have merely been the recitations of words without eyes to lend to their passion.
Euripides, a native Athenian is known for being the last of the great tragedy writers. His works were not especially popular compared to that of his contemporaries but gained acclaim after his death in 408 BCE. Although it is disputed that the Trojan War ever really happened, scholars believe that Euripides’ audiences would have made a connection to a similar event that happened during a battle at Melos during the very real Peloponnesian War. A tragedy that remains truth 2500 years later was respectfully and successful revived into relevance once again.
When the chanting began, the plays participants entered the aisles and stage amidst a frenzied un-cohesive dance. “Modern,” in the vein of avant-garde, I was pleasantly surprised with what followed. Their coalescence of modern stage performance with a script that remained true to the original Greek succeeded in breathing new life into a drama whose message transcends centuries.
The production, Prologue, Iphigenia in Aulis and Trojan Women came from Part One of John Barton and Kenneth Cavender’s The Greeks, produced in 1980. While staying true to Euripides’ dialogue and plot, the script uses original arrangement to add clarity to the story. The prologue laid the groundwork and history to provide audience understanding of the events leading up to the Trojan War. Told in a conversational manner, the muses dictate the gods’ displeasure with and inability to keep from interfering with mortal lives. The juxtaposition of Iphiginia in Aulis next to Trojan Women focuses on the heartbreaking toll that warfare has on the families of those involved but strategically remains objective by granting acknowledgement to the personal sacrifices of both sides.
The costume choice was varied. While the muses and the goddesses wore typical Greek attire (tunics and a more feminine take on the toga—in cut and color) the other characters wore 20th century clothing used to clarify their characters identity. For example, Agamemnon and Achilles both donned army fatigues, making it very clear their roles as soldiers. Hecuba was adorned in an early nineties prom dress as representation of her now null position of Troy’s queen.
Like an original 415 BCE performance, the set contained few stage props. Ropes and cloth were manipulated to represent a variety of objects. Achilles brandished a dagger and the Old Man presented a small tape recorder that held Agamemnon’s plans to sacrifice his daughter and keep it from his wife. These little extras remained simple but still added to the storytelling without deviating from the vein in which Euripides’ intended his tragedy to be told.
The starkest difference in the presentation of this play was the selective use of masks and amount of passion with which the play was delivered. Confusion and disbelief clouded the face of Cheryldee Huddleston (Clymenestra) as she began to realize the state of Agamemnon’s (played by Derrick Causey) camp. I was most impressed by Monica Padman’s portrayal of Iphigenia. When Achilles realizes the extent of her beauty and joins in her mother’s cries for justice she shook as she begged them to stop and declared that she “gladly [gave] herself to Athena!”
“This will be my wedding night!” As she proclaimed the benefits of being a ‘free’ woman versus a slave to lust and love as so many were – (thus causing the war itself) her mannerisms and quiet diligence with which she delivered her monologue left you thinking that she really meant it—that she was a willing participant in the sacrificial ceremony.
The same could be said of Amy Roeder’s depiction of Hecuba. As a queen who has been dethroned she begs her ladies to truly see the fate that they had been dealt. “Wake up!” she cries. “Wake up! You are widows!” Her emotional outcry sums up the despair of which the entire production emulates. Even the strongest voices lose their magnitude when emotion is hidden behind a mask. The desperate cries of both groups of women, begging the gods for justice would have merely been the recitations of words without eyes to lend to their passion.
Euripides, a native Athenian is known for being the last of the great tragedy writers. His works were not especially popular compared to that of his contemporaries but gained acclaim after his death in 408 BCE. Although it is disputed that the Trojan War ever really happened, scholars believe that Euripides’ audiences would have made a connection to a similar event that happened during a battle at Melos during the very real Peloponnesian War. A tragedy that remains truth 2500 years later was respectfully and successful revived into relevance once again.
More information for the University's drama department
can be found at: http://www.drama.uga.edu/
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