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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Academic Screenings and Books
The work of Trojan Women Project has increasingly found a place in academic research and teaching. Trojan Women Project has contributed chapters to the The Bloomsbury Handbook of Anglophone Literature and Migration and in Contemporary Representations of Forced Migration in Europe, both of which explore how stories of migration and displacement are represented in culture.
Our films have been screened at leading universities in the UK, the US and across Europe, sparking discussion on migration, identity and human rights, The screening of our films is followed by a Q&A session with refugees and trustees of the charity, in person or over Zoom. Screenings and talks regularly take place the following institutions, among others:
- Harvard University
- University of Oxford
- University of Cambridge
- University of Edinburgh
- University of St Andrews
- University of Birmingham
- University of Alabama
- University of Stirling (Migration in the 21st Century programme)
- University of Coimbra
- Columbia University
- University of Notre Dame
- Michigan State University
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- University of Padua
- University of Milan
- Amnesty International
- Human Rights Watch
Our films are also now part of UCLA’s Diversity in Film syllabus, ensuring that the voices of refugee women are heard and studied in one of the world’s most influential centres of film education.
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Anglophone Literature and Migration
This collection brings together writing and scholarship that looks at how migration has shaped English-language literature since the Second World War. The text moves across continents and decades, showing how stories of leaving, arriving, and living between worlds are told. From questions of home and belonging to the challenges of identity and language, it offers a broad picture of how writers respond to the experience of movement and change. We wrote the final chapter of the book, detailing our experiences running a community drama project with refugees.
Contemporary Representations of Forced Migration in Europe
This book explores how refugees and forced migration are portrayed in Europe today. Rather than seeing people only through headlines or political debate, it looks at how literature, art and culture can give a fuller sense of human experience. Drawing on examples from across the continent, it asks how stories and images can challenge stereotypes, question systems, and open up space for empathy and solidarity. We contributed the first chapter to the book, discussing our time running the Trojan play and workshop in Glasgow from 2018-2019.
As Mulheres Troianas da Síria
As Mulheres Troianas da SÃria (The Trojan Women of Syria) by Sandra Pereira Vinagre explores how Euripides’ tragedy still resonates today. The book examines theatre projects where Syrian refugee women performed The Trojan Women, combining their own experiences of war and displacement with the voices of Euripides’ characters. These performances created a dialogue between past and present, where myth and lived reality overlap. Figures such as Hecuba, Andromache and Cassandra are re-imagined not only as women of Troy, but also as women who have faced the upheaval of leaving Aleppo, Homs or Damascus. On stage, the ancient story becomes a mirror for contemporary struggles. Vinagre shows how theatre can serve as more than artistic expression: it can also be a space for reflection, recovery and public conversation. By bringing refugee women into the heart of performance, As Mulheres Troianas da SÃria demonstrates how the themes of classical drama remain relevant. For the Trojan Women Projects, the book is a striking reminder that Euripides’ play remains alive, taking on new relevance whenever women confront conflict and search for ways to endure and rebuild.