Well this was certainly not what I had expected.
The Trojan Women opens on a quite disturbing level of energy, unafraid of what is to come even though it wishes to instil fear in its audience - because that is what these women feel. Fear. Loathing. Terror. Showcased in the first few moments, we are met with riot gear, screaming, and the Gods Athena and Poseidon, and frankly, they don't give a sh*t. They are the manipulators here, changeable simply because their temple had been desecrated that very morning, or they were simply bored of the tempo of the Trojan war. They didn't care.
Nobody did. In fact, I'm going to go off the wall and sum this up with a poem:
The Chorus is in labour, and chained to the bed,
The doctor's not coming - they're Trojan, so dead.
The Queen didn't listen, now everyone's gone,
Cassandra's been sectioned - premonitions go on,
Cassandra, Andromache, Helen of Troy,
The second is injured, with her baby boy,
All played by Loo Brealey, wonderfully done,
Though I cried for Andromache, and for her son.
Jon Foster is brill as the put upon jailer,
Dosing up the Chorus with pills for what ails her,
He's portrayed at least, as a Greek with a heart,
It may only be little but at least it's a start.
The Gate Theatre's tiny, but blasts you with noise,
Hoping and praying that her child's not a boy.
Of course you realise, at least in the end,
That the weapon's the woman,
Because they birth the men.
Anyway. No more poetry for a while. Louise Brealey was fantastic, equal turns sexy, damaged and funny, and, as the deposed Queen Hecuba, Dearbhla Molloy fought ably against her new captors. Bird's script doesn't let down, and is both engaging, emotional and incredibly intense, cramming a thunderous amount into only 90 minutes of stage time, bookended by the kind of trauma that - even though we were sat in the safety of the theatre, felt highly real and horribly uncomfortable.
The Trojan Women isn't for the faint of heart, but it's really rather good if you can keep a hold of your own emotions. It's a wise idea not to get too attached.
Runs till December 15th 2012
Faint heart never won fair lady.
No comments:
Post a Comment