Day 1: Dancing and discussing a timeframe

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The first day started with some dance work; this will be a regular feature of the rehearsal process and performs a function both as a warm-up, and as a dance language to train in and use in the play. Today we looked at three dance forms, Quick Step, Jive and Salsa.

Then we worked through the first few pages of the play looking at ‘facts’ and ‘questions’, and identified the main themes of the play as ‘War’, ‘Family’, ‘Power’, and ‘The Collapse of Moral Order’. During the course of the week we will look specifically at one of these themes, and present improvisations from our own lives in relation to the theme.

We began the day sitting around the table with the script and discussed what time the play is set in. There are three timeframes (pots of time) that we are referencing to research the play:

The historical dating of the Trojan War –1250BC

Homer's time –When the Iliadwas written (between 750 and 725BC, i.e. 500 years after the historical event)

Euripides' time –5th and 4th century BC ( Trojan Womenwas written in 415BC, i.e. 300 years after the Iliad)

In order to contain all the anachronisms, it was decided that it would be most useful to try out setting the play in the future, in 2050.