: The Trojan Women is a classic palimpsest: re-written, re-adapted and re-translated since 451 BCE, when Euripides copped the story from Homer's even-more-ancient Iliad. The School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University's latest iteration, Charles L. Mee's Trojan Women: A Love Story, draws from several thousand years of literature and the horrors of war, with distinctly modern accents.
3 comments:
In my time at CMU, this is one of the best productions I think we have done. The set was beautiful, the costumes (while occasionally seemingly disjointed) were fantastic, and the acting was great. I thought the plot was very well conveyed (even if it was confusing at times). I thought it was a really gorgeous portrayal of how everyone else is affected in times of war. Something I found disappointing was that the article begins by addressing the men in the show. This play is not about men, it is about how their actions cause so much harm to women. This is a perfect example of social commentary on how women are still being ignored even when everything points to the fact that they should not be.
I liked Trojan Women overall. However, I do have one piece of critique: It wasn't bold enough. The text was very strong and graphic setting up a world just like that. The world created seemed to tame after all of the crazy for me. Jed is one of my favorite directors because he takes the bold risks that others don't, so I went in expecting all of that. In the end, I feel like the world was a little too safe, but I enjoyed the production nonetheless.
Overall, I enjoyed Trojan Woman. I enjoyed how the text was adapted and how well the actors executed the piece. I believe that the media was good and fit well with the performance as it occurred. The set itself was amazing and beautiful, however I don't necessarily agree with the choice of not using masking. I feel as though it sort of took me away from the piece itself and reminded me that we were in fact in the Chosky Theatre seeing a show. However, the piece itself was beautiful and I believe that it was a great success for the School of Drama once again.
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