AustLit

'Troy is in ruin. The men, slaughtered. The women, prisoners, recoil behind wire, fearing their fate, longing for death. Memories and prophecies haunt their Queen, Hecuba: hallucinogenic visions of her daughter Cassandra; her grieving daughter-in-law Andromache, and the one mighty woman behind the whole bloody catastrophe, Helen.

'Euripides’ timeless play is a brutal tale of Athens’ invasion and enslavement of the people of Melos. In a radical twist for Western theatre it was told not from the perspective of the conquerors, but that of the survivors. Giving voice to the vanquished was a revolution: seizing centre stage from Gods, heroes and Royalty, and claiming it for the displaced.

'Archipelago’s fierce new production of Women of Troy, adapted by Tom Wright and Barrie Kosky, with a stellar cast that includes Sarah Peirse, Jane Johnson, Marta Dusseldorp, Angela Mahlatjie and Guy Hooper, directed by Ben Winspear and features a new score by Katie Noonan, libretto by Behrouz Boochani, and community chorus of women and children led by Amanda Hodder.

'With displaced people now at record numbers globally, Women of Troy interrogates what we have learned and lost and how, in war, it is the women and children who suffer the most.' (Production summary)