The Trojan Women

Euripides’ The Trojan Women is a powerful indictment against the cruelty of war. It was first staged in Athens, 415 BC.

For ACS (International), it was a first attempt experimenting theatre with multi-languages, incorporating German, Korean, Hindi and Chinese language within the English play, harnessing the strength of many of our students who are bilingual.

This was also a collaborative school effort involving three CCAs – the Chinese Drama CCA, the Contemporary Singers Ensemble CCA and the Electro Acoustic World Music Ensemble CCA. Performed on 17 and 18 May, this production was the result of much creativity, perseverance and effort of student actors, singers, musicians, production crews and teachers over the past five months.

Comments from the audience which typified the show included:
“ sophisticated, powerful, intense, great choreography, excellent use of lighting and shadows, clear diction, and a very high standard of performance.”

What is it?
The play follows the fate of the women of Troy after their city was sieged, their husbands killed, and the remaining of their families about to be taken away to Greece as slaves. The script used was a close adaptation of the Greek tragedy by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. It was originally written by McLaughlin in response to the Bosnian War in 1995 and she casted refugees from the former Yugoslavia and Albania as her actors. Each part was to be played by more than one actor and the written text allowed different languages to be interwoven.

In our play, we portrayed two Queen Hecubas, two beautiful Helens and three mad Cassandras who also played the chorus. The stage design elements were kept minimal; instead projection of lights and shadow puppetry were used. The songs sung by the Contemporary Singers Ensemble led by Mr Phua Ee Kia and the Electro Acoustic World Music Ensemble led by Mr Philip Tan greatly illuminated the entire play.

The Trojan Women production hopes to empower young aspiring actors, singers and musicians with roles that extend beyond their own. It is an attempt and also the director’s heartbeat to reflect the size of the souls of these young people – for their hearts to work towards something bigger and to find beauty and values within themselves that they may not have found otherwise.

Ms Eemien Sia
Teacher of Drama
Director, The Trojan Women