It was 2000 years after Euripides wrote The Trojan Women when Shakespeare probably connected with Hecuba and her sorrows. We don’t know exactly how or when the Bard first encountered the Greek tragedy, but the impression lasted until he wrote Hamlet, where Hecuba is invoked as the gold standard of stage characters who draw forth an actor’s tears and command our empathy.
My first taste of The Trojan Women was in my freshman year, and it changed me – and how I wrote – forever. Or at least it did until I reached my first poetry writing course, when my prof gently hinted that I needed to turn down the emotional volume a little.
Bottom line, Trojan Women (or Troades) is still hot stuff, and it’s coming to Charlotte this Sunday at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 600 East Boulevard, site of the Yiasou Greek Festival. Hosted by the Holy Trinity Greek School, presentation of the Michalis Kakogiannis translation, directed by Leonidas Loizides, begins at 6:30pm.
Hecuba earns her position as queen of sorrows with her exalted bloodline. As the Queen of Troy, Hecuba has not only lost her kingdom and her King Priam, she has lost her celebrated sons – Hector, the mightiest of Troy’s warriors, and Paris, the romancer who ignited the whole 20-year ruckus by running off with the beauteous Helen.
But it’s Hecuba and her daughters – and that troublemaking daughter-in-law, Helen – who are the focus of Euripides’ tragedy after the famed Trojan Horse stratagem. Hecuba faces a future in exile as the slave of Odysseus, while Polyxena is to be sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles. Cassandra, who sees the future but is never believed, becomes the spoils of the winning king, Agamemnon. Too good of a character to lose, Cass turns up again after the voyage back to Argos in Agamamnon, the first leg in Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy.
What happens to Helen and Hecuba’s other daughter, Andromache, is just too juicy to reveal. Go see the play, as this touring production drops anchor in Charlotte for one evening during its nationwide odyssey. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students/teachers, and can be purchased online at www.troades.org. You can read the script – and the song lyrics – while you’re there.