Queens of Syria (the documentary) tells the story of fifty women from Syria, all forced into exile in Jordan,who came together in Autumn 2013 to create and perform their own version of the Trojan Women, Euripides’ timeless Ancient Greek tragedy about the plight of women in war. Not one of them had ever acted before.
What followed was an extraordinary moment of cross-cultural contact across millennia, in which women born in 20th century Syria found a blazingly vivid mirror of their own experiences in the stories of a queen, princesses and ordinary women like them, uprooted, enslaved,and bereaved by the Trojan War.
It was a process charged with emotion and fraught with challenges, as long buried issues came to the surface, and at times the project itself hung in the balance.
Yasmin Fedda’s subtly crafted and beautifully shot film explores the difficult choices the women have to make about appearing on stage, and the close relationships they form within the group as they explore with each other their experiences. It shows their bravery and determination that their stories should be told to the world.
The original production was invited to go on tour in the US and Switzerland, courtesy of Georgetown University in Washington DC, and Columbia University in New York, but sadly the casts visas were denied, so the tour was 'virtual' since unfortunately our original cast were unable to travel to the US as their visas were rejected. Listen here to the story on NPR. After we showed the trailer and some short clips from the documentary footage from 'Queens Of Syria', The inspirational cast of The Trojan Women received a standing ovation from a visibly moved Georgetown audience.Under the expert moderation and translation of Syrian broadcaster Honey Al Sayed, the cast, director and audience were able to have a discussion about the project, sharing experiences of participating in and of watching some of the performance. Despite thousands of miles and visa denials, the team at Georgetown enabled our cast to tell their stories and ask their questions, and gave the Washington audience a flavour of what (we hope!) is to come if visas are granted and a live performance is made possible.
You can discover more about the event in a report by Peter Marks in the Washington Post and also in a Foreign Policy article by Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, co-founder of the Georgetown Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics.
Geneva
The Talberg Institute also hosted nine of the cast members to mount an abridged version of The Trojan Women at CERN in Switzerland.
The original production was invited to go on tour in the US and Switzerland, courtesy of Georgetown University in Washington DC, and Columbia University in New York, but sadly the casts visas were denied, so the tour was 'virtual' since unfortunately our original cast were unable to travel to the US as their visas were rejected. Listen here to the story on NPR. After we showed the trailer and some short clips from the documentary footage from 'Queens Of Syria', The inspirational cast of The Trojan Women received a standing ovation from a visibly moved Georgetown audience.Under the expert moderation and translation of Syrian broadcaster Honey Al Sayed, the cast, director and audience were able to have a discussion about the project, sharing experiences of participating in and of watching some of the performance. Despite thousands of miles and visa denials, the team at Georgetown enabled our cast to tell their stories and ask their questions, and gave the Washington audience a flavour of what (we hope!) is to come if visas are granted and a live performance is made possible.
You can discover more about the event in a report by Peter Marks in the Washington Post and also in a Foreign Policy article by Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, co-founder of the Georgetown Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics.
Geneva
The Talberg Institute also hosted nine of the cast members to mount an abridged version of The Trojan Women at CERN in Switzerland.
The original production was invited to go on tour in the US and Switzerland, courtesy of Georgetown University in Washington DC, and Columbia University in New York, but sadly the casts visas were denied, so the tour was 'virtual' since unfortunately our original cast were unable to travel to the US as their visas were rejected. Listen here to the story on NPR. After we showed the trailer and some short clips from the documentary footage from 'Queens Of Syria', The inspirational cast of The Trojan Women received a standing ovation from a visibly moved Georgetown audience.Under the expert moderation and translation of Syrian broadcaster Honey Al Sayed, the cast, director and audience were able to have a discussion about the project, sharing experiences of participating in and of watching some of the performance. Despite thousands of miles and visa denials, the team at Georgetown enabled our cast to tell their stories and ask their questions, and gave the Washington audience a flavour of what (we hope!) is to come if visas are granted and a live performance is made possible.
You can discover more about the event in a report by Peter Marks in the Washington Post and also in a Foreign Policy article by Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, co-founder of the Georgetown Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics.
Geneva
The Talberg Institute also hosted nine of the cast members to mount an abridged version of The Trojan Women at CERN in Switzerland.
In 2013 Refuge Productions in partnership with Oxfam mounted a new production of Euripides’ great anti war tragedy the Trojan Women in Jordan with a cast of Syrian refugee women displaced by the war in Syria. The production was intended both as a psycho-social support measure for the participants, and as an advocacy tool to highlight the plight of Syrian refugees. The women who participated arrived at the workshops in varying states of suffering from depression, feelings of isolation and PTSD. Without claiming that the production cured these, the Syrian psychologist we employed to monitor the workshops and rehearsals confirmed that the process allowed the women to take back a great measure of self confidence and self respect, as well as finding a new support group through sharing each others’ stories and experiences. In 2013 the refugee crisis engulfing the region as a result of the civil war in Syria was very under-reported internationally. We correctly projected that showing this crisis in a different and dramatically surprising way would have a much wider impact in reporting terms, and as such the play was widely covered by regional and international press both in newsprint and on television.
10 YEARS
2013
2023
"I HAVE
A SCREAM
I WANT THE WORLD TO HEAR...
...BUT I WONDER,
WILL IT BE HEARD?"
I'm k here to add yourAd ownTr text and edit me. It's easy.
Witness the true stories and testament of those who have fled areas of conflict for safety in the UK, told alongside the classic tale of The Trojan Women. Has anything changed since 415 BC?
Building on TROJANS UK 22's new adaptation of Euripides' anti-war tragedy THE TROJAN WOMEN, with a cast of UK-based Ukrainian, Afghan, Syrian and other refugees, professional actors, amateurs and community hosts, TROJANS UK 23 is running another series of drama workshops for refugees and asylum seekers ahead of a new stage production.
An exciting taster of the work in progress was performed at the K+C Festival at Playground Theatre, London W10, on 8th August with a core cast of professional Ukrainian, and Syrian- Palestinian actors, all exiles from their homelands.
Directed by Shani Erez and Amanda Waggott.
Adapted by Charlotte Eagar, William Stirling, Amanda Waggott and the cast.
Produced by Trojan Women Project
The performance received a standing ovation and rave audience reviews.
SEE THE TROJANS UK 22 PLAYGROUND THEATRE PERFORMANCE FILM AT:
https://youtu.be/HNd6B54HtJo
Helping refugees overcome isolation, trauma, depression and giving them a platform to tell their stories to their host communities as well as building links and trying to provide new professional and personal opportunities are the core aims of the project.
Trojans UK 22-23
"Astonishing...deeply moving...magnificent"
"4 stars"
(Audience reviews)
Drama Workshops NOW! Every
Wednesday 10AM-1.30 PM
Chelsea Theatre Trojans project
London SW10 0DR
All refugees / asylum seekers
welcome
SUPPORT OUR WORK
by watching our films
Buy or rent our films and all proceeds go towards supporting our ongoing projects and our refugee participants.
Our films aim to amplify and document the voices and lived experiences of our refugee cast who participate in our joint therapeutic/advocacy projects.
Watch our films to gain an insight into our work, and support our ongoing projects.
TROJANS - THE TOUR
A BRAND NEW ADAPTATION OF EURIPIDES’ ANTI-WAR TRAGEDY, THE TROJAN WOMEN
We're delighted to announce the start of our new, long term, country-wide project for refugees and host community members that will help cultivate cross-commuity ties and give our refugee participants a platform to tell their stories.
This project is aimed at Ukrainian, Afghan and Syrian refugees, as well as any other migrants and host community who wish to be involved.
We will be creating a brand new production of Euripides’ great anti-war tragedy, The Trojan Women, with a cast of refugees and host community members – including a core cast of refugees who have been professional actors in their own countries, and host community actors, with a chorus of amateur actor refugees and hosts from drama workshops we will hold around the UK. The multi-lingual workshops will also help the participants learn English.
Our pilot project of drama workshops will culminate in a London-wide 'mini tour' accompanied by further workshops run by the cast members for the local community.