The Times 30 May 1883, p. 10, col. E
"THE TALE OF TROY."
The bold idea of turning the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" into a subject for amateur theatricals
was carried out yesterday under the auspices of Sir Charles and Lady Freake with a success no
less artistic than pecuniary. While the laudable object of raising funds for the creation of a new
department in King's College for the higher education of women claimed wide support for the
scheme on practical grounds, any apprehensions that may have been felt as to the results of
laying a sacrilegious hand upon the "Father of Poetry" were at once dispelled by the scholarly
and artistic manner in which the work of adaptation was done. Professor G.C. Warr was
responsible for the dramatic version of the poem, presented under the name of The Tale of Troy;
scenery, grouping, costumes and tableaux were designed by Sir Frederick Leighton, P.R.A,
Messrs. E.J. Poynter, R.A., G.F. Watts, R.A., George Simonds, and Professor P.H. Delamotte,
F.S.A.; descriptive and vocal music for the occasion was composed by Messrs. Otto
Goldschmidt, Malcolm Lawson, Walter Parratt, and W.H. Monk, Mus. D.; and the stage
arrangements were directed by Mr Hermann Vezin and Mr George Alexander. As the narrative
of the Trojan War and the events springing out of it is voluminous, and as, moreover, no
ingenious commentator has ever suspected Homer of writing for the stage, it is manifest that the
task of casting the "Tale of Troy" into dramatic shape is one demanding the exercise of sound
judgment. Professor Warr has performed it in the manner least likely to offend scholastic
prejudice, and at the same time most conducive to dramatic effect. Selecting a series of the more
famous incidents of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," those namely affecting the fortunes of Helen,
Hector, Achilles and Ulysses, he has illustrated them either by tableaux vivants or by passages
quoted bodily, or with very slight alteration, from the text. The greatest liberty he has taken has
been to intersperse songs, in some cases derived from Homer or Theocritus, in other cases
original. Of the latter the most notable is an elegy for Patroclus beginning: "Cai'r æ , w\ Danaoi'sin a{pasin
"tetimevne, keijn jAivdao.
"pavnte" d æ, a[na, qrhnevousin
"mavl æ oijktrav se, to;n poqeinovn."
[Fare well, you who are honoured by all the Greeks, even in Hades. My lord, all mourn you in bitter grief, you are
the one they long for. Ed.]
The story of the Iliad and the Odyssey thus takes the following shape: Tableau. – The pledge of Aphrodite redeemed. (Helen, Paris, Peitho, Eros, Aphrodite.)
Scene 1. – Helen at the Scaean Gate. The Parting of Hector. (Priam, Helen, Theano, Iris, Elders,
Hector, Andromache, nurse and child, and Trojan ladies.) Scene 2. – Priam on his way to the
Achaean camp. (Priam and attendants, Hermes.) Scene 3. – Priam in the tent of Achilles.
(Priam, Achilles, Automedon, Alcimus, Thetis, Nereids, Briseis.) Scene 4. – The mourning for
Hector at the Scaean Gate. (Andromache, Hecuba, Helen, Cassandra, and Trojan ladies.)
Tableau. – Ulysses in the palace of Circe. (Ulysses, Circe, and nymphs.) Tableau. –
Ulysses in the Isle of Ogygia. (Ulysses, Calypso, maidens, Hermes.) Scene 1. – Ulysses at the
court of Alcinous. (Alcinous, Arete, Demodocus, Nauscaa and maidens, Ulysses.) Scene 2. –
The return of Ulysses. (Ulysses, Penelope and maidens, Euryclea, Eumaeus, Telemachus.)
Tableau. – The retribution of Ulysses. (Athene, Ulysses, Telmachus, Antinous.) Scene 3. –
Ulysses and Penelope.
Yesterday the English version was performed; tonight the play is to be repeated in Greek.
For the due rendering of these different scenes a host of characters are employed, numbering
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close upon four score, of whom, of course, comparatively few require to speak or sing. The
principal parts were yesterday taken by Mrs Beerbohm Tree as Andromache, Miss Eugenie
Sellers as Helen, Miss Ethel Coxon as Cassandra, Mrs Bram Stoker as Calypso, Miss Gertrude
Kohnstamm as Penelope, Miss Laura Craigie-Halkett as Circe, Miss Leonora Gerstenberg as
Nausicaa, Miss Eleanor Baird-Smith as Eurycleia, Mr Beerbohm Tree as Hector, Mr W. Benson
as Paris, Mr S. Brandram as Priam, Mr G. Lawrence as Achilles, Mr A. Ram as Alcinous, Mr F.
Condi as Telemachus, Mr Colnaghi as Demodocus, and Mr Luke Ionides as Ulysses. The
costumes, although strictly classical, present considerable variety in colour – gold, green, olive,
and white prevailing. The Nereids, the river, forest and fountain nymphs are uniformly green,
the Trojan ladies and Nausicaa's maidens white.
The Times 31 May 1883, p. 5, col. G
"THE TALE OF TROY."
A second performance of The Tale of Troy on the miniature stage of Cromwell-house last night
confirmed the favourable impression of the first, both with regard to the literary taste of
Professor Warr's adaptation of the Homeric narrative and the beautiful setting designed for it by
Sir Frederick Leighton, Mr. Poynter, and others. The Greek text being employed on this
occasion, a slight re-adjusting of the cast was rendered necessary in order that full justice might
be done to the post's hexameters. Miss Elinor Ritchie assumed the part of Andromache, Mrs.
Beerbohm Tree becoming Helen, and Miss E. Guest, Miss Eugenie Sellers, and Miss Jane E.
Harrison, appeared as Hecuba, Cassandra, and Penelope, respectively, while Mr. J.K. Stephen
and Mr. Lionel Tennyson took their places as Hector and Ulysses. Mr. W.A. Gill, played, as
before, Alcinous. The formidable array of dramatis personæ in other respects remained
unchanged, though the number of ladies taking part in the choruses it must have been beyond the
resources of Girton to produce. Mr. Gladstone was present as a deeply-interested spectator of
what must be considered the first successful attempt to bring the living characters of Homer upon
the stage. It is impossible to conceive how this could be done with a more scrupulous regard to
the spirit of the poem or with a more sympathetic or more refined appreciation of the beauty of
Greek art. Costume, scenery, grouping, music, the product of many minds, were blended into a
whole, and impressed the spectator no less with their admirable harmony than with their severely
classical correctness.
Every stage picture here shown, whether technically to be described as a "tableau" or a "scene,"
is strikingly beautiful. The opening tableau represents Aphrodite redeeming her pledge by
bringing Paris to the fairest of women. Helen is seated musing, while Peitho (Persuasion)
whispers in her ear. Aphrodite, unseen by her, is drawing aside her veil and showing her to Paris,
who gazes at her with admiration, while Eros (Love) stands by. In the first scene of the play
proper we are shown the plain of Troy, as seen from the Hill of Hissarlik. In the distance are the
Hellespont and the isles of Imbros and Samothrace. The war-huts of the Greeks appear on the
plain, and their ships are drawn up on the shore beyond. On the left is the Scæan Gate, adorned
with rudely-carved lions; on the right, a shrine, containing a primitive statue of the goddess,
Pallas Athene, whom the city had chosen as its guardian. It is here that the women (whose part it
was to pray while the men fought) supplicate Athene in vain; here that Helen deplores her guilt
before Priam, and that Hector, the champion of Troy, takes leave of Andromache, his wife, and
goes to battle. The interior of Achilles' hut where Priam ransoms his son's body is simple and
calls for no remark. Again, however, we are brought back to the Scæan Gate, and now the beauty
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of that scene already described is enhanced by an effective grouping of the various characters
round Hector's bier - Andromache, Hecuba, Helen, and Cassandra, in costumes of varied hues
and a chorus of Trojan ladies in white, while the senses are lulled by a dirge of singular
simplicity and impressiveness. This scene closes the story of the "Iliad." The rest of the play is
devoted to the fortunes of Ulysses. The tableau of "Ulysses in the Palace of Circe" represents,
first, Circe preparing the wine; then Ulysses receiving it from her hands; and, lastly, the
surrender of Circe, who pledges her oath to restore his comrades. She is accompanied by four
handmaids. Passing over the hero's adventures in the Isle of Ogygia with Calypso and her
nymphs - a part of the story represented by tableaux - we arrive at the Court of Alcinous, and
finally are brought to the hearth of Ulysses, upon which the curtain falls. In all of these scenesnotably that of Nausicaa and her maidens - the resources of the cast for grouping are employed
with much effect. The final tableau furnishes an impressive and worthy dénouement in the shape
of a group representing Ulysses bow in hand and Telemachus triumphant over the suitors of
Penelope, while near them stands the goddess in whose protection they had confided. The
performance from beginning to end was received with unstinted applause.
A contemporary print inspired by the production
('A Greek Play in a London Drawing-Room', The Graphic, 4 August 1883, pp. 116-117)
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