After reading Trojan Women: A Love Story I walked away with two thoughts, the
first being this was an excellent adaptation and translation of Euripides Trojan
Women that read and flowed surprisingly easy. The second thought, more like a
feeling, was one of disgust. The play had a very dark tone to it; it seemed to
have a strong foundation with this noting of agony and ecstasy.
Originally the idea of Trojan Women of placed in modern times, did not appeal
to my pallet. Frankly I was a skeptic on how this would be preformed and staged.
My resonating behind this was simply, how could you take a piece of ancient
literature that was written thousands of years ago, filled with archaic terms
and modernize it? My fear was that this might be another Romeo & Juliet starring
Leonardo DiCaprio and Clair Danes. But after reading through the text I
discovered that this translation was filled with the vernacular of today's
modern society. This alone provided the play with a very natural rhythm, and
Because this was so informal and seemed so real, this idea of agony and ecstasy
proved to be very disturbing. Also the depth in which he describes the events
almost places you there and provides you with very vivid images. For example in
one of the opening scenes where Chorus Member 2, Aimable is addressing the
audience and says, "...I looked around and then I realized that the girl lying
near to me was badly injured, with lots of broken glass stuck all over her body.
Her blood had splashed and made stains on my shirt. And she had pieces of wood
stuck in her." I felt this drop in my stomach and this instantaneous response of
sorrow for this reduced helpless girl. From that point on the stories grew more
gruesome and more vivid to the point where I had to stop my reading and go take
a walk outside. When I finally returned the play kept that image of constant
...