OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Frank McGuinness 

• Adapted / Translated From

  Euripides

• Author Notes

  A new version of the play by Euripides, based on a literal translation by Fionnuala Murphy.

• Setting

  Ancient Greece

• Synopsis

  Seven years have passed since the end of the Trojan War and Menelaus, King of Sparta and husband to Helen, is making his slow and painful way home. When his ship is wrecked on the coast of Egypt he stumbles upon what seems to be his wife lingering outside the royal palace. But if this is the real Helen, who was the beautiful woman stolen by Paris, for whom all Greece took up arms? Did Troy fall for nothing? Has it all been some god’s idea of a joke?

• Play Type

  Adaptation/Translation
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  14

• Female

  4

• Total

  18

• Cast Notes

  Some cast doubling possible for the chorus.

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  02 August 2009

• Producer

  Produced by Shakespeare's Globe

• Original Venue

  Shakespeare's Globe
  

Source Of Information