Premiere: March 23, 2024.
In the 20th century, under the shadow of global conflicts, special attention was given to Euripides’ so-called “anti-war” dramas—Hecuba and The Trojan Women—in which the playwright depicted the senseless human suffering caused by war from the perspective of the defeated, particularly from the viewpoint of women. Now, in the midst of the 21st century’s new wartime challenges, director István K. Szabó, drawing on the adaptations by Sartre and Gyula Illyés, presents the events following the fall of Troy from the unique perspectives of four women. His adaptation contrasts emotional and rational planes to reveal the tragedy that should never have happened, yet proved inevitable because the gods, in their selfish game, throw the dice and one way or another, Troy was destined to fall. In the performance, which also reflects on today’s situation, time becomes fluid and eventually dissolves completely. The production evokes haunting voices and images from history’s great melting pot, alluding to the ever-present fire and the many smoldering ruins, as the vanity of Helen spurs new, destructive campaigns that delight in devastation, with no man able to resist her allure. Meanwhile, in the silence of death, “only the Trojan women raise their voices.”
Director: Szabó K. István
