Arts

The Trojan Women: Classic with a universal appeal

by Ranga Chandrarathne

The Sinhala production of The Trojan Women by Euripides (415 BCE), an epic drama which is considered to be a masterpiece in theatre, will go on board at the Kalutara Town Hall on October 20, at the Lionel Wendt on October 25 and at Matara St. Thomas's College auditorium on the occasion of the sixth year anniversary of the Sinhala production. The proceeds of the drama will go to the maintenance and development of the Trikon Art Centre.

Euripides who lived in Athens (480-406 BC) wrote The Trojan Women different from the other dramas of the day, as it has no fixed structure, introduction, sequential development of events or catalytic, but a set of interwoven incidents to manifest deep human feelings.

It portrays a total collapse of social institutions in the face of war. Though the events occurred with a rapid pace apparently independent of one another at a superficial level, they contribute to the ultimate objectives of the drama.

Unlike traditional drama of the day, The Trojan Women' does not interlace around an incident in Homers epics or Classical Literature or based on Greek legends, but based on a war the Greeks launched against Troy.

The epic theatre which Bertolt Brecht introduced much later is also used in the drama. The Trojan Women is also fallen into the category of docu-drama which is marked by timeliness.

The Trojan War commences with Prince Paris eloping with King Manlius's beautiful wife, Helen and marries her. The ensuing war which is fought for decades leaves, once prosperous Trojan a barren land.

Underneath the superficial storyline, runs the message that how the syndrome of war adversely affects the society at large destroying the very foundation of it, the institution of family. It depicts the inhuman and cruel nature of war.

Through a series of seemingly independent events, Euripides incorporates the implied gist of the story into the very corpus of the drama. The viewers realise this cruel and inhuman nature of war through the sheer destruction of all the physical and spiritual resources that man painstakingly made over the years.

Euripides wanted to convey that war is something that destroys humanity and there is no victor in a war. Following Euripides' death, the Troy was captured and the invaders completely destroyed the city of Troy killing all the men and enslaving the women.

The Trojan Women is one of the potent anti-war dramas and is a classic which has earned the acclaim of both viewers and critics for its realistic adaptation into Sinhala by veteran dramatist Dharmasiri Bandaranayake.

'Gahanu Sirura Sayurak se'

Two creations of popular lyricist Samantha Herath titled "Gahanu Sirura Sayurakse" and Kalaya Kotharam Napuruada Soduriya" will be launched at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on October 17, at 3.30 p.m.

Prof. Carlo Fonseka, Tissa Abeysekara and Ajith Samaranayake will be among the guests at the event. The songs written by Samantha will be sung by Dr. Amaradeva, Latha Walpola, Victor Rathnayake, Sanath Nandasiri, Amara Ranatunge, Dayaratna Ranatunga, Amarasiri Peiris, Edward Jayakody, Damayanthi Jayasuriya, Yamuna Vinodini, Deepika Priyadarshini, Rohan Bulegoda, Indika Upamali, Sashika Nisansala, Padmalal Dolamulla, Chandani Warushakoone. Music is by Navaratna Gamage.

The lyrics are published by Surasa Publishers and organised by Sahurda Sanvada Centre.