The Women of Troy

Barrie Kosky's shattering production about the mopping-up phase of the Trojan War is big on shock and awe. Adapted by Kosky and Tom Wright from the last play in a trilogy by Euripides, it throws the audience into the horror of being mopped up. We’re obliged to sit in a hilly graveyard, our chairs shrouded in white body bags; our seat numbers become our serial numbers. The set and costumes by Kosky and Alice Babidge are sparse and stark, befitting a detention camp. With regular shelling, gunshots, beatings and executions going on around us, we feel like insects being tortured by some cruel and childish god.

In the regal voice and demeanour of Robyn Nevin, Hecuba, Queen of Troy, tells ruefully how her realm fell, infiltrated by a wooden gift horse. Everyone ignored the warnings of her snake-eyed daughter Cassandra (Melita Jurisic), who has a habit of vomiting unpleasant truths. Jurisic also plays Helen, and sings hauntingly through this opera of lament. Helen’s husband Menelaus, who dragged his allies into a decade-long war to retrieve his wife, is chillingly played from an electric wheelchair by Arthur Dignam.

As in ancient Greek theatre, much of the performance is sung. Melbourne-born director Kosky, now at home at Berlin's Komische Oper, chose beautiful arias by Bizet and Mozart sung in their original French and Italian to accompany the action. The effect is one of unconsoled sadness. The Women of Troy is extraordinary theatre, though it may not be everyone's cup of hemlock.

The Women of Troy plays at the Wharf 1 Theatre until Sun 26 Oct.

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