University of Oklahoma School of Drama

Weitzenhoffer Theatre

February 12 - 21, 2016

Directed by:  Susan Shaughnessey

Scenic Designer:  Uldarico Sarmeinto

Costume Designer:  Lloyd Cracknell

Lighting Designer:  Zak Houara

 

The Trojan Women tells us the tale of the women of Troy after the Greek armies had sacked it.  All is ruin and desolation, and most of the men of the city have been killed.  Each of the women relate their sad story before the Greeks come to take the women with them as slaves.  Troy is burned, and all the women lament.

 

My research for this show began with creating the sense of desolation and desperation.  I created ambiences of a sacked and deserted Troy, desert winds and bleak sounds, all to enhance the lamenting of the characters.  When Troy is set ablaze, the fire grows in strength, eventually concluding with the sounds of buildings falling, the last remnants of the mighty city of Troy.

 

One thing that we discussed early on was how to treat the songs.  This took some research into modern adaptations of the chorus.  We discovered several instances where the chorus was given a repeated musical phrase to sing with either lyrics or sustained vowels, while selected characters would recite the text of the chorus moments.  Our director had already divided several of these sections up amongst members of the chorus, and I provided some musical foundation.  At the opening, when the gods depart, a mournful background is played upon a harp, and the chorus sings a repeated phrase: “I weep, I weep, dirges of our doom, I weep, I weep” before continuing this melody singing an ‘ooo’, while Hecuba delivers her opening dialogue.  This theme would return in other sections.  As the dead child is carried away on the shield, the lamenting chorus would intone their dialogue, splitting into a tri-tone interval as they finished.

 

The rest of the underscoring came about very organically.  I visited rehearsal several times to help guide the sung musical moments.  On the rehearsal piano, I would softly play some of my underscoring music ideas during the rehearsal, and these moments would become the foundation of the underscore for several scenes.  Cassandra’s madness was punctuated with rapid random dissonant notes, while other moments would have building chords, layered strings, and return appearances of the I Weep theme.