The Trojan Women at The New Marigny Theatre through December 13
Euripides’ The Trojan Women ranks as one of the most despairing plays in the canon. An unsparing portrait of victims of war, it does not offer cheery visions of sugarplum fairies or redemptions of scrooges; needless to say, it’s not your typical Holiday fare.
Fat Squirrel’s production of it at The New Marigny Theatre will probably not send you tra-la-la-ing out onto the streets of the Seventh Ward; in fact, you’re more likely to leave with a knot in your stomach. You will, however, be gifted with the experience of an immensely worthwhile and satisfying evening of theater.
Director Andrea Watson has set her production in “Troy, an American city, about 40 years from now.” There’s a front porch of a modest house. We see into its kitchen. We don’t know much about its inhabitants.
Whatever this house was, its front yard has now become a holding area for the captured Trojan women including Hecuba, Queen of Troy, proud and regal, who must endure seeing herself and the female members of her family (the men have all been killed) turned into slaves and concubines for the leaders of the conquering Greek army.
As indignities and horrors pile up, only the clueless pride of Helen of Troy, whose abduction by Paris, Hecuba’s son, precipitated the whole war, provides any levity. Otherwise, as we watch Hecuba and the other Trojan women submit to their fates, we are sadly reminded of similar desperate situations occurring all over the world right now.
Watson has wisely condensed the narrative to one act and 90 minutes. Her staging is unfussy and keeps the focus on the protagonists while her deft pacing keeps the action taut, allowing the outcome to feel inevitable.
Mallory Osigian Favaloro makes an impressive New Orleans theatrical debut as Hecuba. With imperial bearing, as she laments that her “Homeland is gone/Husband and children are gone,” she makes clear that each word and phrase of her often long speeches has been keenly thought out. When Favaloro says that she is “in agony” with “aching temples and sore ribs” we understand, without her ever overdoing it, that she has been tortured.
As Hecuba endures unrelieved misery, ponders her forthcoming enslavement (“Who will own me, body and soul?”), and deals with the tragic death of her infant grandson, Favaloro holds our attention with her charisma, seething rage, and anguished sense of loss. Favaloro may be a bit too young to play Hecuba, the mother of 19 children, but that is easily overlooked. I’d like to see her play the role again twenty years from now but, till then, I hope we will see more of her on New Orleans stages.
In the tricky role of Cassandra, Hecuba’s daughter, Kaylon Willoughby nicely delineates those (sometimes talky) passages when she is relaying what has happened to her and when this princess/prophetess, perhaps wrongly referred to as a “crazy girl”, is foreseeing the future. Willoughby makes us empathize with her sad fate.
Lizzy Bruce finally has a role fully worthy of her talents as Andromache, widow of Hector, Hecuba’s warrior son. Like Favaloro, Bruce captures her character’s rage and indignation but layers in bewilderment at the tragic plight that has befallen her. Bruce gives a nuanced performance of great pathos, and if we may not agree with Andromache when she states “To die is better than to live in grief”, Bruce makes such a sentiment palpably understandable.
Often appearing as Tennessee Williams heroines or in such dramas as The Diary of Anne Frank, Elizabeth McCoy finds comic touches in that vain, bad girl Helen of Troy. In league with Watson, McCoy has fun with the role and lightens things up (temporarily), while getting all the drama out of the situation as Helen slowly realizes she may not have as rosy a future as she hopes. As Hecuba confronts Helen, Favaloro and McCoy have the best scene in the play, not by leaning into the campiness of a catfight, but by embodying the real tension between these two strong-willed women.
Mallory Osigian Favaloro and Elizabeth McCoy in The Trojan Women
It’s good to have James Wright back on stage again after a too long absence as the Greek soldier Talthybius, who’s guarding the prisoners. In this relatively small yet complex role, Wright makes clear that he must obey orders, but still notably attempts to lessen the women’s suffering.
As mentioned, I admired Watson’s staging and her work with the cast in shaping their highly accomplished performances. I’m not sure, though, I got her overall conception. The Trojan Women is very much grounded in two nations fighting each other and the subsequent spoils of war. Set in an American city, this doesn’t quite make sense. Were the Trojans trying to overthrow the government? Why would police in riot gear be dealing with these women whose outfits seem to situate them in some suburban community? And why the vaguely Middle Eastern music at the start?
I’m also not sure Watson knows quite what to do with the Chorus (Lauren A Gauthier, Mika Litton, Becca Larkin). In their traditional role as commenters on the action with stylized movement, they’re fine. I can’t help wondering, however, if a different, more modern approach, in keeping with the setting, could’ve been taken.
To create the script, Watson wove together three different translations. I’m not sure if it’s due to Euripides or her but, if, at first, things came off as a bit wordy, as the story progressed, I noticed how beautiful and sharp and evocative the language was. Still, with its references to many unseen characters and various familial relations, I spent a good deal of time connecting the dots and thinking back to who’s who in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida in which many of these same characters appear or are mentioned. In a case like this, a hard copy of the program with a diagram laying out the family tree would’ve been most helpful.
It is to Watson and Fat Squirrel’s credit that they chose to present this drama, particularly at this time of year. Sadly, 2,400 years after its premiere, The Trojan Women is as vital as ever with its timeless message that “War is hell”. Seeing this powerful production may not bring you peace, but it’ll end your year on a theatrical high note.
[For tickets, go to https://fatsquirrelnola.square.site/product/trojan-women/29]
HERE at Marigny Opera House through December 15
If, instead, you prefer visions of joy and beauty, head to the Marigny Opera House where Marigny Opera Ballet (MOB) is presenting HERE, an evening of two contemporary ballets. MOB Artistic Director Diogo de Lima choreographs the first one, Put a Light On, the second, Echoes, is by Christian Denice, and they’re linked by the music of Ted Joyner.
While each of these ballets can stand on its own–Put a Light On runs about 20 minutes, Echoes clocks in at about a half hour–they come off as two halves of a whole as the two choreographers share a tremendous, and similar, sense of motion; they speak the same choreographic language as it were.
So in each, moments of quick movements alternate with slower ones. Both feature vibrant extensions, lifts and leaps. And each seems to celebrate the sheer joy of dancing as solos and pas de deux are interspersed among sections that bring the ensemble of six dancers together. Both ballets are ravishing visual treats.
There are differences, however. The third movement of Put a Light On seems like a cousin to the second movement of Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces as some dancers walk determinedly across the stage while two others are the focus of a tender duet. Echoes is more of a continual piece with no breaks allowing for applause (except one). Echoes also includes vaguely automaton-like movements throughout.
In each, Joyner’s gorgeous music, an amalgam of indie pop-rock and classical new-ageishness, propels the dancers and choreography. Performed by Joyner, The Delachaise Ensemble, and five other musicians, the score deserves an album of its own.
That said, the MOB website states, in part, that HERE is “an immersive exploration of time and place, centered around the history and present-day significance of the Marigny Opera House, originally built in 1847 as Holy Trinity Catholic Church by New Orleans’ German immigrant community. … [It] reflects on the passage of time, and the historical narratives embedded in the Marigny Opera House.”
Perhaps I missed something, but I didn’t get any of that. There does seem to be lyrics accompanying the music in Put a Light On but, as filtered through a synthesizer, they’re difficult to make out; the only words that came through for me were “seasons are changing”.
One does get a sense that Echoes represents a portrait of a community which we see at work, at play, and coming together to support each of the members of it. This representation, however, is rather abstract and could be of a community almost anywhere.
Please note, if HERE, for me, did not live up to its billing, it did not diminish in any way my enjoyment of the piece, something which is not always the case in similar situations.
Credit must be given to the topnotch sextet of dancers who bring the two ballets to life. Among them, Edward Spots has often been the stand-out in an ensemble. Here he is not. I mean that with no disrespect, however, as in HERE all the performers (Joshua P. Bell, Emily Farrow, Allyssa Nelson, Mares Sanchez, Kennedy Walker, along with Spots) are of an equally outstanding caliber. Under Lydia Kolda’s sensitive lighting which enhances all it touches, I could watch them all endlessly.
Edward Spots and Joshua P. Bell in Echoes, part of HERE
While it may be unfair to single any one section out in these works that are so consistently of high quality, two brief pas de deux between Spots and Bell in Echoes stood out. I can’t quite put my finger on why; perhaps because such same-sex pairings are still somewhat unusual in ballet, perhaps because of the (slight) asymmetry due to Bell being about a head taller than Spots, perhaps because Denice, consciously or unconsciously, added a little extra “je ne sais quoi” to those movements. In any case, they were extra splendid.
At the Marigny Opera House, 6 dancers, 2 choreographers, 1 new score, and zero sugarplum fairies, add up to something pretty magical this holiday season.
[More info and tickets at https://www.marignyoperaballet.org/]
