By Libby Mason

The Second Year Theatre production; Helen; an adaptation of John Barton’s version of three plays by the classical Greek dramatist, Euripides.

The Trojan War of these plays is based on an illusion; many lives were lost for nothing. The “femme fatale” Helen of Troy and her “abduction” by Paris is not after all a justifiable reason for the war. We see a clear parallel here with the mythical “Weapons of Mass Destruction” supposedly held by the Iraqi Government which gave the US administration the excuse to start a war they were itching to fight anyway.

The relationship of war to religion, to sex, gender, class , power and politics are the themes of Euripides’ writing that the production highlights. The vision is to bring this myth from over 2000 years ago into an immediate and provocative dynamic.. The “look” is anachronistic; elements of Classical Greek costume and environment juxtaposed with the desolation, dirt and ruins that we recognize from contemporary war zones. Projected slides and videos emphasize the timelessness of the themes and story.

Euripides is now thought of as the most “modern” of the classical dramatists , and these plays show his virtuosity as a political writer, tragedian and comic writer.
We hope the audience will leave entertained, stimulated, moved, questioning. This is not a simple anti war piece, but an experience that asks where that initial willingness to engage in conflict comes from; when it is useful and ethically acceptable and when not. What , if anything, is worth fighting for?