The Trojan Women: LA/Darfur Dreamscape

Nominated for “Best Adaptation,” 2009 LA Weekly Theater Awards. Based on first person narratives of atrocities and genocide are drawn from reports published by Human Rights Watch, Congo Watch, the United Nations, and Amnesty International, this powerful new work by City Garage playwright Charles Duncombe resets Euripides famous tragedy in the war-torn Darfur of today. At its heart, the familiar characters of the ancient story—Queen Hecuba, her women, Cassandra, Andromache—watch the destruction of their city, are driven from their homeland, and taken away as slaves. In the foreground are events of today and the recent past: the wars in Darfur, and Congo, Rwanda, Chechnya, Bosnia, and the violence endured by the women and children victimized in those conflicts. “The geopolitical realities in Duncombe’s freewheeling text range from the harrowing statistics of recent genocides to sardonic swipes at our blog-infested society. Darfur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, overpopulation, climate change and more punctuate the same gender positions that have driven this saga since its Peloponnesian War premiere…Duncombe and director Frédérique Michel pull few punches in the wake of burning Illium…this company watershed is a triumph.” --“Critic’s Choice” Los Angeles Times