Blog 4- Madeline Berger

Although the director may have amplified the drama of Euripides’ Trojan Women to increase the work’s emotional impact, doing so proved to be counterproductive. Most of the actors put so much physical exertion into the communication of their emotions that they appeared histrionic. Hecuba, in particular, acted histrionically. Her consistently deranged voice and strained body language (always stretching her body forward and staring with crazed eyes up and ahead) diminished her humanness. I could not relate to her, nor did I want to. Her overzealous performance consistently reminded me that I watching an actor pretending to be distraught, rather than relating to a human being experiencing genuine emotion. While reading Euripides’ version of the play, I related more to Hecuba’s character. When exposed only to her words and not to an overdramatic expression of those words, I could add to her words my usual emotional reactions to synthesize a Hecuba with which I could empathize. When watching her in the performance, I did not relate to her crazed physical behavior. Because her behavior was so intense, it was difficult to tune it out, and therefore difficult to connect to the words in a personal way. The dramatic acting of Cassandra’s character similarly affected me. Running around the stage and repeating the phrase, “I will be wed” is a more dramatic but less human reaction than Euripides’ version of Cassandra’s reaction expressed in multiple multi-paged monologues, including conflicting emotions like, “Escort me, and if I seem less than eager to you, push me along by force.” The performance sacrifices subtlety, humanness, and complexity to achieve simple drama.

The set design both aided and hindered the communication of the notion that Troy had fallen. Although the set was simple, its cleanliness, formalness (given its slate tiles and many columns), and spaciousness did not indicate that Troy had fallen with no hope for recovery. To Troy, Poseidon states in his opening monologue, “dear city with your finely squared towers, you that were once so happy, fare you well. If Pallas, the daughters of Zeus, had not destroyed you, you would still be standing on your foundations.” The performance’s set depicts a building similar to a “finely squared tower” that “still [stands] on [its] foundations.” Either the director was negligent, or he/she purposely placed the actors into an undestroyed area to juxtapose what the characters had against that which they were losing. The costume choices support the latter possibility. Rather than wearing entirely shriveled dresses, the Trojan women wore elegant white gowns, perfectly pristine and whole except for their bottoms, which were blackened with ash and ripped at the edges. This contrast again juxtaposes Troy at its height to Troy at its demise.