The Trojan Women by J.P. Sartre

Directors’ notes

In the world, as it is shaped around us today, the THEAMA ensemble, wishes to bring about a social dialogue with the challenges of our times, by drawing inspiration from Sartre’s point of view on those elements that focus on the consequences of war and any form of oppression that it entails, revealing the position of women in in this particular calamity. The elimination of stereotypes and the discontinuity of the reproduction of the stigmatizing speech could not find any other more suitable ground, than this specific play. The social imperative of marriage as a stereotypical concept, the right to free will and choice, the social compulsion to alter any uniqueness in the name of the established patriarchal value, as well as the “norm” that removes personal expression, are beacons of impasse and unwilling confinement. The discourse becomes political in front of the victims, in front of the spectators. The Chorus drags the heroes of the play into its vortex and strips them of whatever quality they have. We must all confront reality, and Sartre’s “combatant” Trojans do not hesitate to do so.

Vassilis Oikonomou

The Trojan Women have names, they are not anonymous victims.

Eleni, Garyfallia, Angelica, Katerina, Adamantia, Vaya, Fay, Monica, Zoe, Ada, Anna, Tonia, Caroline, Vasiliki, Konstantina, Anissa, Maria, Stavroula, Dora, Nectaria, Eliana, Jevrieh, Alexandra, Vicky, Evin Ekrem Ali, Cleo…, Olga, Aimiliani, Veronica, Maria, Efi, Georgia, Filothei, Hannah.

Sofia Stavrakaki

Translator’s Notes

The Trojan Women by Jean-Paul Sartre is an adaptation of the classical work of Euripides. The French philosopher writes his theatrical masterpiece  drawing inspiration from Greek mythology and history, and having the intention, once again, to speak about the great problems of humanity, he infuses Euripides’ text with elements drawn from modern society and time. Sartre studies in depth the original work of Euripides and transcribes it with his sharp pen, having a cynical, but also caustic mood, in the summer of 1964, in Rome. The play is later presented  at the TNP (Théâtre National Populaire) in Paris.

The theme he tackles is that of war and oppression, and their condemnation, a motif particularly dear to the creator, since he dealt with it in his first drama, Bariona or The Son of Thunder (Bariona ou Le Fils de Tonnere , 1940). It is noteworthy that Sartre chooses both to start and to end his dramaturgical career with two anti-war plays, which elaborate on the exercise of power and all that derives from it.

The philosopher’s goal is to “shout out” the great truths of Euripides, and to achieve this, he infuses the heroes with additional characteristics, giving them an even more revolutionary and aggressive attitude than the original one, expressed in a modern language. Hecube is no longer the mature woman who commits murders and will reach the point of losing her resolve⸱ she is a younger and dynamic being who holds in her hands, with unquenchable passion, the sceptre of the Queen of Troy, without surrendering and yielding to no one.

Also, in his own Trojans, not only mortals but also gods find death, and this position emanates from the prevailing conditions in a Europe wounded by the destructive conflagration left behind by the two world wars. Three years after the Algerian war, Sartre renounces the war and the interests associated with it. It is obvious that the text contains clear allusions to European imperialism in Asia and Africa.

This is the first ever staging in Greece of this adaptation of Euripides’s Trojan Women as adapted by Sartre. THEAMA presents it for the first time under the skilful directions of Vassilis Oikonomou and Sofia Stavrakaki.

Elina Ntaraklitsa