Awareness of the 21st century: new readings of Euripides's The Trojans

Greek tragedy as a genre is subject to continuous reinterpretation by contemporary authors who make use of myth to interpret the present. In recent decades in Europe and Australia, Euripides's play Women of Troy (5th Century BCE), has been adapted on numerous occasions to comment on armed conflict, refugeeism and victimhood in the Gulf War, the Syrian conflict and others. In 2002 a play written by Michel Vinaver and translated into Catalan had its worldwide premiere in Barcelona. This play established links between Euripides's original and the Twin Towers attack in New York on September 11 2001. In 2004, Rosalba Clemente and Dawn Langman adapted and staged Women of Troy with the attack in mind, for an Australian audience. The new millennium starts amidst victims. Both versions highlight the complexities and ambiguities that inspire war and its split between winners and losers as another way to define the Other.