Marina Carr’s version of Hecuba, the ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripedes, runs at the Project Arts Centre until the end of this week.
Since it debuted in Greece in 424 BC, it‘s been reimagined in countless forms, with its themes of war, power, sex and violence interrogated in every era by countless artists.
The enduring myth of the enslaved Queen of Troy, whose husband and 18 children were slaughtered in battle with the Greeks, remains a bleak and cautionary tale of humanity’s worst excesses and traits.
Carr’s most recent take on the legend finds Hecuba distraught, surrounded by the bodies of her dead sons, holding the head of her former husband in her hands as she remains regal on her husband's throne.
But rather than seeking vengeance for her loved ones' deaths as per the original text, Carr’s visceral version sees the Queen ultimately crushed and rendered motionless by her own grief.
Indirect speech lends a unique window into characters’ thoughts and feelings, in particular those of Hecuba and her tormentor Agamemnon. Essentially, each character is their own Greek chorus in this production.
Acclaimed playwright Carr declared this week she “no longer reads newspapers”, yet the parallels between this ancient story and what is happening in the ‘civilised’ world today are clear.
Watching this impressive ensemble of actors dressed in modern, understated outfits, the audience can’t help but be reminded of recent conflicts like Syria and Iraq – and, in particular – their impact on the women entangled in them.
In conflicts like Syria, as it was in ancient Troy, rape is merely a sideshow of war. Women are enslaved and stolen as trophies, just like Hecuba and her daughters. Grievances are still settled in ways unthinkable and frustrations dispelled with brutal, conscience-free force.
With thoughtful direction by Rough Magic’s Lynne Parker, who also sits the audience uncomfortably close to the action in the round, this is no doubt a consciously-created allegory.
Carr’s play, originally staged in 2015, forces us to consider the true motivations behind the heinous actions of war, and humanity’s perpetual obsession with wealth, lust, power, pride and control.
With nuanced and powerful performances from Aislín McGuckin and Brian Doherty in the leading roles, it makes for uncomfortable, thought-provoking and sometimes moving viewing.
When a regal Queen Hecuba suggests at one point to her captor Agamemnon that the reasons behind the war are entirely false, the audience is likely to link this to Iraq and its questionable ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
Why do humans still do the unthinkable under the flimsiest of pretences, powered by one-sided arguments? Are we still so easily corrupted by our most base and animal of instincts?
While Carr’s latest work offers no immediate answers, it does force us to face our most primitive urges and the ways we justify enabling them.
Hecuba runs at Project Arts Centre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival until Sunday 6 October
