Relating the Plight of ‘The Trojan Women,’ Then and Now

Flashes of refugee camps in Syria; children covered in the ashes of bombs. Over the last few months, images like these revolving around the refugee crisis have been inundating televisions and newsfeeds. At a time like this, the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s adaption of “The Trojan Women” might be more relevant than ever.

Euripides’s Greek tragedy follows the fate of the women of Troy following the sack of their city by the Greeks during the Trojan War. In particular, it delves into the fall of the Queen of Troy, Hecuba (Sumner N. Perera ’19); her daughter,Cassandra (Celia Kenney ’20); and her daughter-in-law, Andromache (Caro P. Ribeiro ’18), after they have lost not only their respective husbands but also their freedom and daily lives. As the story progresses, we see these once-proud women delivered into the depths of despair as they are handed off to Greek generals either as concubines or slaves—the play centering on their feelings and thoughts.

In choosing to adapt this play, director Federico Roitman ’18 found Jean-Paul Sartre’s adaptation, translated by Ronald Duncan, to be the most accessible to audiences because its contemporary language would add to the more recent conversation regarding foreign policy and global. “I wanted to do a show that spoke to more than just the refugee crisis, but the US’s role in foreign policy issues throughout history,” he says. Roitman hopes his projection design will highlight the contemporary issues upon which this play touches. “One thing I will be doing is incorporating a lot of news and documentary footage talking about Iraq, talking about the refugee crisis, talking about Vietnam and US foreign policy in general,” he says.

Producers Stephanie N. Ferrarie ’18 and Kyle J. McFadden ’18 did not want to necessarily limit the scope of the play to the U.S., a choice reflected in their set design and costumes. They choose neutral, modern clothing paired with a set based on a gray color palette. “The set needed to be nondescript, a neutral environment where you can set a story about war regardless of the location and the time period,” Ferrarie says, “especially with Federico’s projections evoking the idea of the refugee crisis now or the war in Iraq, which can be translated into the devastations caused during the Trojan War by the Greeks.”

For Perera, who plays Hecuba, the most fascinating questions engendered by the show regard human resilience and faith. “When things go extremely wrongly, people’s faith is tested, and this show definitely highlights that,” she says.

McFadden says Roitman’s energy and fascination with the play’s powerful themes have made the show exciting. “Our director has this sort of passion which really infects the whole team and makes the show that much better,” he says.

Roitman is quick to note that this is not a canned lecture on politics. “Ideally, this is going to be a spark that inspires a desire to learn about these issues, to get informed about these issues, and to talk about these issues,” he says.

“The Trojan Women” will run from Oct. 13 to 22 at the Loeb Experimental Theater.