John Ginman: Cruel and Tender: Metaphysics and performance in a time of terror

Western European Stages (New York: Martin Segal Theatre Center) Vol. 16 (3) pp. 113 – 118 2004

Martin Crimp’s reworking of Sophocles The Women of Trachis was one of the earliest, and most significant, theatrical responses to the Iraq ‘war on terror’. In the production by Luc Bondy it was seen and acclaimed in London, Paris and Recklingshausen. This article examines the nature of the production’s impact in the theatre, and the ways in which it addressed the play’s particular challenges for performers: its treatment of the Chorus; its approach to the presentation of the multiple identities performed by its characters; and its handling of emotional transitions in a context in which notions of cause and effect were problematised.