The Troyan Women

The devastated city is burning. All traces left behind by its inhabitants are disappearing in the flames. How do you start over when nothing remains of the life you have once lived? When you can no longer recognise the city where you grew up because it has lost all its buildings, streets, and parks? What happens when the city is no more, and what becomes of the life that remains within it?

On the ruins of Troy, there gather the survivors—children, women, and the defeated—led by Queen Hecuba. Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra, and the others are torn between the loss of their loved ones and their own uncertain future. They await the verdict of the victors, who will decide their fates by lot: to whom they will become slaves, where they will live, and whether they will ever be free again.

Euripides is the last of the three great ancient Greek tragedians. Compared to Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is considered more modern, as his plays focus more on the inner experiences of his heroes and heroines. Young director Maruša Sirc announces the production of The Trojan Women, which stems from the fact that, through the myth of the Trojan War, they contextualised the Peloponnesian War of the time and revealed its hidden side, which was often omitted from the heroic accounts of the victors.

The production will examine the plight of women and children in war, who, once the conflict is over, often assume the role of “healers of the world,” even though they were not responsible for its collapse. At the same time, It will question the historical narrative of wars, which tends to crown a heroic victor while overlooking the real consequences still felt by many generations who had no direct experience of the war.

When reading the text today, one cannot help but notice the chilling parallels between the horrors endured by the Trojan women and the scenes from Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and Iran that we witness every day. In the preliminary phase, the creative team is therefore searching for contemporary drama from today’s war zones that will serve as a constant parallel to the ancient material throughout the staging process.

Maruša Sirc (2001) is a master’s student in theatre directing at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT), University of Ljubljana. For her directing in her diploma production Attempts on Her Life, she received the Prešeren Prize for Students and the Zlatolaska national student award; the production also won Zlatolaska awards for ensemble acting and set design. In 2023, as part of the Face Discrimination project, she developed the conceptual project What About Little Red Riding Hood?. Between 2022 and 2024, she was the editor of the magazine Adept, and through the Erasmus+ programme, she completed a ten-month internship at the transdisciplinary arts center Das LOT in Vienna.