An Ancient Story Gains New Importance

All is fair in love and war.

These famous words are the unofficial mantra of Columbia Stages’ production of The Woman, which opens Wednesday at Riverside Theater. The show­—Andrea Ferran’s graduate directing thesis production—is part dramatization of the Trojan War and part social commentary.

The first act of the play centers around two women on opposite sides of the conflict, Trojan Hecuba and Greek Ismene, who try to end the war peacefully. But the men prevail and the war ends violently. The second act follows the surviving Trojans and Hecuba, who have established a island utopia. However, the Trojans have something the Greeks want—a statue of a goddess.
When the Greeks arrive, trouble starts again.

Though the woman that the play’s title refers to is the statue of the goddess, which drives much of the action simply by being an object of desire, the focus often shifts to Hecuba and draws attention to the mother-daughter relationship between the Trojan queen and Ismene.

Though the two women begin on opposing sides, Hecuba becomes a powerful female role model and a mother figure to Ismene. “Hecuba enlightens Ismene because she [Ismene] comes from a different world in which a woman can never be a leader and to see this strong, powerful woman is inspiring and it gives her the confidence to try to stop the war,” said Sarah Strasser, who plays Ismene.

In a time in which women have low social standing, these female characters try to bring about change. “It doesn’t just start with, say, ‘These are all the terrible things that are wrong with the world,’ it shows you a load of people trying to come to terms with how to fix things,” Ferran said. The show embodies the message that change is possible.

Though there has been a succession of works based on Greek plays portraying the problems of women in a man’s world throughout the current Columbia Stages season—Medea, Big Love, and now The Woman—each offers a different angle. The Woman looks at war, peace, and change on a societal level as well as a personal one, where Medea and Big Love focus predominately on relationships between individuals. The Woman’s grand perspective makes it all the more relevant.

An epic play like The Woman maintains relevance because of its many layers—from its Ancient Greek inspiration to personal politics. The related “Talk-Forward” event that will also take place Wednesday, at the School of the Arts, will feature dramaturgist Brendan Padgett and classics professor Elizabeth Scharffenberger who will delve deeper into these subjects.

The play deals, on one level with sight and blindness, a common theme of ancient Greek literature. Hecuba doesn’t want to see the destruction that surrounds her, but she must force herself to in order to instigate change. “You can try to distance yourself from your problems,” said Glory Gallo, the actress who plays Hecuba, “but they’re still going to be there.”

There’s also a sense of the impossible becoming possible, a theme shared with Big Love. Accordingly, intimacy can occur even in the most unromantic circumstances. “The man, who was once the lowest-level person in society falls in love with the woman who was once the queen of a nation,” Ferran said.

Two women crying out for change, powerless minorities in the world of ancient Greece can carry a lot of weight when shown to a modern audience. In our current political and economic climate, The Woman truly hits home. “It’s about these two women trying to create change, trying to preserve our world, trying to simply live in peace and love and be happy,” Strasser said.

The Woman runs from March 11-14 at the Riverside Theatre. Tickets are free with a CUID or other valid student ID . The “Talk-Forward” event for The Woman is free and open to the public and will take place March 11 at 6:30 in the LeRoy Neiman Gallery in Dodge Hall.