Theatre Review
Production: The Trojan Women
By: Euripides
Directed by: Marti Maraden
Where: Stratford Festival Of Canada
Run: May 14^th to October 5^th 2008
Tom Patterson Theatre

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada)

Remember learning about Helen Of Troy at school? Saucy girl falls in love with opposing team and runs away. Her hubby tracks her down and plants the infamous ‘Trojan Horse' in enemy camps to win a war and reclaim his wife. Helen is as enigmatic as the goldi-locked Godiva, with her wiles and mysterious ways as Bono might have eulogized her. However, Euripides had an entirely differing take on Helen's Greek soap-opera mythology and saw the battlefield of love littered with a destructive path for widows to survive.  

My attention span towards Greek Mythology wavered in my education as both Homer and Virgil held little excitement to me, but Euripides always captivated my thoughts. Today is no different in The Stratford Festival Of Canada's production of The Trojan Women by Euripides this season. Essentially, The Trojan Women is about the leftovers of war; predominantly women and children who must now be designated new lives as slaves and concubines. The victors choose where these women are to be designated too after they have lost their husbands, sons, homes and land. The women are further divided up as Mother and Daughter are not sold off as pairs. Many are shipped out, and all will lose a life they earned within their lifetimes. Queens become slaves and Princesses' become concubines for lusty conquistadors. Most alarmingly, two and a half thousand years later and such practices continue relatively unchanged. 

The Trojan Women speak about their loved ones lost, their terror and fears of where they are to end up, the sufferings they have endured and the general hypocrisy of life. One woman loses her two daughters, her royal throne, her creature comforts, and her grandson in the space of the play. Another must give up her son to be murdered as The Greeks have decided this boy will one day grow up to be a threat to their power. A decidedly feminist story, as the truest form of feminism exists in empathy for women and their plight. The Trojan Women is a classic in both history and the litmus test of time.     

The play begins with a fabulous introduction by David W. Keeley as Poseidon (God Of The Sea and brother of Zeus), and Nora McLellan as Athena (daughter of Zeus and patron Goddess of Athens). Keeley was seen last year at Stratford in the two musicals, My One & Only and Oklahoma, and showed his stage presence then as now. Keeley is perhaps one of those bejewelled pieces of coal that the Festival holds in their hand; look deeper at Keeley's performances and you find a glistening diamond to contend with. McLellan was also in Oklahoma last year and in the captivating Pentecost; she is a Shaw Festival alumni and has a wonderful grace about her that equals Keeley's presence. The two worked beautifully together; exposition never sounded so captivating. My only sadness is that the two perform for the first ten minutes of the production and then are never to be seen again (as the play requires).

Martha Henry (who was in last season's A Delicate Balance, and directed Of Mice And Men last season) is a much more proficient director than actress in all cases, often best ‘seen and not heard;' but her performance as Hecuba (wife of Priam, and the King of Troy), and the lead role, was the greatest I've seen from her. 

Cassandra's (Daughter of Priam and Hecuba; played by Kelli Fox) entrance was visually stunning with lighting and simulated flame that set the stage aglow. Kelli Fox gave her all, but Cassandra's beguiling insanity speech was not engaging.

The women's costumes looked like crap; all tattered, damaged and ruined by the spoils of war...which is exactly as they should have looked. No prettied up faces with a drag of dirt lightly positioned across a cheek; these women looked both pathetic and like someone you could feel sympathetic for. The stage was sparse and any set pieces were rusty looking, which was a nice touch. I was displeased with the men's regimentals as they were decidedly modern and distracted from ‘the moment' of the play, especially the Love Boat ‘Captain Stubing' seafaring garb they put David W. Keeley in as Poseidon, God Of The Sea.   

Of course, incandescent talent and theatrical stature can be found in the likes of Seanna McKenna who plays Andromache (wife of Hector), who is perfection in every role she commands. Sincerely, McKenna is what makes theatre exciting and thrilling. Watching her performance of a woman giving up her child to be murdered by the Greeks had this self-professed ‘tough critic' inwardly begging herself not to completely fall apart at the seams. I was pleased to see an usher with a hanky at the ready (at least I wasn't the only one with tears streaming down my face at this scene!). McKenna took the demanding role of Shakespeare's wife in last years Stratford production of Shakespeare's Will.

Themes of The Trojan Women are still highly relevant today; the destruction of war, the survivor's plight, and the telling lack of change in women's lives since 415 B.C.