The original word

Hello all, i thought for nostalgic value it might be fun to record the cast list and director's notes from the original, 2004 program. Here tis:

Cast: Hecuba - Joanne Kian, Cassandra - Daniella Olea, Andromache - Kim Mitchell, Helen - Antonia Olthof, Talthybius - Piers Marsh, Poseidon - Benjamin Woods.

Notes - 'Euripides' dark tragedy, The Women of Troy has often been celebrated as one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written. For the purposes of this production, however, we have located the drama within the context of a mourning ritual. Alone, surrounded by the burning ruins of her once great city, Hecuba calls the dead to relive the loss of her family.

Drawing upon ideas from the Japanese dance form, butoh, this production explores questions about how we deal with the physical experience of grief.'

It is funny to look back on that particular moment, that audacious attempt at a theatrical project. Butoh was a huge influence on the aesthetic of the original design and physicalities, but it seems weird to have addressed this in the program. While we have continued to employ similar training methods,learned at workshops held by established 'butoh' practitioners, i would not make such a claim now. I do not feel any of us would feel compelled to make such statements about the aesthetic mood or physical style of the current attempt. Not yet, anyway. It might be suggested that it is very strange. Suffice to say, it is not realism.