The senior play this term was an outstanding and powerful performance of Euripides ‘Trojan Women’, which is the story of how one family and one group of women have their lives changed forever by the terror of war. The incredibly intense performance by a strong cast of 19 was originally going to be performed in just one act, but due to Lorna Brady’s amazingly powerful performance as Andromache; who learns that her young son is to be taken away and murdered by the Greek Soldiers, the cast found themselves in floods of tears. It was felt that an interval would give the audience AND the cast time to recover from this heartbreaking scene!

Alex Selka’s portrayal of the broken Hecuba, leading the women and protecting them from the Greek Soldiers was incredible. She took the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions in this Classic Greek Tragedy. This was a huge role for Alex and she performed with real professionalism. Alex (Hecuba) led the Women from the ruins of her once prosperous city and took the full force of Chris Wilkinson’s arrogant Talthybius as he enjoyed telling her of her awful fate and the future of her family. In a classic twist, Chris managed to show Talthybius’ true colours and human weakness when he breaks the news that he has come to take her Grandson Astyanax (played with great vulnerability and innocence by Toby Curless in Y7) away to be killed at the hands of the vengeful Greek Soldiers.

In contrast, Paul Foster played a very pompous King Menalaus with clever sarcasm as he arrived to claim back his wife the beautiful Helen of Troy, played by Natasha Morris. Natasha portrayed her with a wonderful manipulative edge and the belief that she could try any emotion on Menalaus in order to win him round – he unfortunately orders his soldiers to take her away to die by stoning for her adultery!

The contemporary set design and the up to date costumes contrasted effectively with the classical verse, the language of the script and the live classical music by the String Quartet. The message through these contrasts was clear as we can all relate in some way to the effect that war still has upon the world today. Euripides’ play proves that his themes are still relevant to a modern audience.