“Whose slave shall I be? And whose I?” The glass of silence was broken by the shrill resonance of these words. Kamala Nehru College’s full-house auditorium was left enraptured by the flawless performances by the actors of its Theatre Society, Lakshya. Two months of hard work bore fruit when the play was greeted with a unanimous standing ovation at its end.
Euripides’ Trojan Women, directed by Mr. Feisal Alkazi cast a light on the life of the women of the empire of Troy.
A Greek tragedy, the play was scripted in 415 B.C.E. and largely highlighted the life of the women of Troy after the war- how they were left to be ‘chosen’ by the men of Greece.
Women there were enslaved twice- once with the patriarchal mindsets and attitudes that largely dominated the society of those times and the second time after the war, after the death and slaughter of their husbands and children- they being left to be enslaved by the men of other empires.
The role of the protagonist, Hecuba, the queen of Troy was impeccably enacted by Ayushi Bhatnagar, a member of Lakshya. Articulate and expressive, the pain in her expressions voiced out the utter remorse and despair of the women of those times. Her husband and sons being killed in the war, seeing her daughter succumb to behavioral instabilities and losing her only grandson to the will of the Greeks.
Hecuba is shown as a woman who keeps clinging to false hopes of seeing her empire Troy one last time before devastation engulfs it.
The immaculate acting left the audience awestruck, with adrenaline gushing through their veins. Supporting actors from DCAC, KMC and Lakshya played their parts to utmost perfection. From “Tears are sweet in bitter grief” to “Country lost and children and husband”, the dialogues moved all souls in the sway of emotions. The play was a roaring success, with everything- from costumes to sets, was unquestionably nonpareil.
Arushi Pathak
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