ABSTRACT
Hecuba and Chorus are the only two characters that remain on stage at all times; the Queen and an unnamed citizen locked in a room together along with very different memories of the land they have lost. Setting the play in an enclosed space, with a one-woman Chorus, instantly changed the meaning of Hecuba’s very vocal suffering. The plot is structured around three visitations – Cassandra, Andromache, and Helen, her daughter and two daughters-in-law – each bringing a new, hard lesson for Hecuba. Cassandra’s Hecuba is a dysfunctional egotist who would rather section a nine-year old ‘in a bee-hive cell’ than live with the shame of having a mentally ill child. Andromache’s Hecuba is an impossibly needy mother who mistook Hector’s utter disinterest for silent heroism. Helen’s Hecuba is a vain hedonist who used to song her own sons and spy on her in the shower.
