A Trojan Woman – Kings Head Theatre

Sara Farrington’s A Trojan Woman simplifies and condenses Euripides’ The Trojan Women into a one woman hour long epic. With domestically inspired costumes and props reminiscent of a STOMP special, solo performer Drita Kabashi bends and billows her way through the performance of a panoply of (bicycle) helmeted soldiers, uncrowned queens, and childless mothers “in the chaos of modern warfare”.

The lack of specificity in the setting and the generic dressing of the set unfortunately undercut the tragedy of the story being told under the shadow of horrific and unique atrocities very much at the forefront of viewers’ engagement with any war focused media today.

Meghan Finn’s direction makes good use of the theatrical space but frequent transitions between broad comedy, reflective dance, and earth shattering audio interpolations fail to cohere under the scrutiny of a war weary audience. The resulting performance is fragmented to the point of abstraction and results in an experience hard to categorize as distinctly tragic or comic.

The horror of its content and the humour of its delivery make up a theatrical package that is more alienating than it is affecting and more uncomfortable than it is confrontational. Without a clear focus on one modern atrocity or a firm foot in the richly mined tragedy of its source material, this play confronts its audiences with no demands and because it asks for nothing, receives nothing in return.

Reviewer: Kira Daniels

Reviewed: 4th December 2024

North West End UK Rating: