‘Trojan Women’ blends Greek, Asian styles

Ancient Greek tragedy blends with the traditional Asian performance styles of kabuki, Noh and Bunraku in the University Theatre’s production of Euripides’s “Trojan Women.”

Directed by David Furumoto, himself a kabuki performer who has studied with masters of the art in Tokyo, the production, based on a recent translation by critically acclaimed Irish poet Brendan Kennelly, creates a stimulating cultural fusion that is fantastical and moving.

Furumoto transports the defeated city of Troy to a post-apocalyptic wasteland to tell the story of the city’s noble women. Confronted with the ravages of war, the women begin to question their faith in the gods and rely on themselves to escape their imprisonment.

With its themes of postwar strife, “Trojan Women” may resonate with Americans right now. Pulitzer Prize- winning dramatist Paula Vogel asserts in a recent New York Times article that Euripides’ work is part of the “ethical legacy” that artists must turn to at times like these.

“Euripides wrote “The Trojan Women’ in the aftermath of the Melian massacre, to question his fellow citizens on what was truly good for the Greeks in the killing of women and children,” Vogel writes. “Did they follow the destruction of their foes to the point where they destroyed their own values, the social glue of their own democracy?”

Euripides’ “Trojan Women” continues Nov. 7-11, 14-18 in the Hemsley Theatre, Vilas Hall. Tickets: $14 general public, $10 students, Vilas Hall Box Office, 262-1500.