ABSTRACT
Andromaque is the story of a woman who is in the power of a dominating man who loves her passionately, but whom she cannot love in return, stripped of its classical trappings. Once constructed, the subject of Andromaque is an ingenious machine which can hardly fail to be effective in competent hands. It lends itself to a variety of settings, from the magnificent to the sordid. In fact, the dramatic machinery is so efficient that at times it is a little obtrusive; it then obscures the other virtues of the tragedy. The role of Hermione, although about equal in length to that of Andromaque, demands greater vivacity in an actress and greater reserves of temperament. The Des Oeillets, whom contemporaries described as a charming and intelligent actress, seems to have possessed these qualities.
