''Troy'' is a trilogy of

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

s, first broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

from 28 November to 30 November 1998. The cast is led by

Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his ...

, who came out of retirement to take part. Troy was written by

Andrew Rissik Andrew Rissik (born 23 April 1955) is a British scriptwriter, journalist and critic best known for the BBC Radio 3 trilogy, ''Troy'' and the five-part thriller serial for Radio 4, ''The Psychedelic Spy''. He was theatre critic at ''The Independe ...

and produced by

Jeremy Mortimer Jeremy Mortimer is a British director and producer of radio dramas for BBC Radio.Jeremy Mor ...

. The trilogy is a companion piece to ''King Priam'', Rissik's earlier more optimistic take on the story in which Scofield took the title role. The three parts of ''Troy'' are * ''King Priam and His Sons'' * ''The Death of Achilles'' * ''Helen at Ephesus'' ''Troy'' was repeated the year following its first transmission and has been broadcast on

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

every year from 2004 to 2009 and on its successor channel

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

in 2012. It has also been broadcast in other countries, for example by

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. ...

in 1999 and 2000.

Cast

Episodes

''Troy'' consists of three 90-minute plays.

''King Priam and His Sons''

The first episode starts with the events around

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

's birth, the prophecies that he would bring about the destruction of Troy and King

Priam In Greek mythology, Priam (; grc-gre, Πρίαμος, ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology Mo ...

's decision to have him exposed on

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida'' ...

. It continues with his decision to leave his foster-father Anacreon and lover

Oenone In Greek mythology, Oenone (; Ancient Greek: Οἰνώνη ''Oinōnē''; "wine woman") was the first wife of Paris of Troy, whom he abandoned for Helen. Oenone was also the ancient name of an island, which was later named after Aegina, daughter ...

to go to Troy to plead for the return of a bull that is being taken there for sacrifice and Priam's subsequent recognition and acceptance of him as his son. It concludes with Paris's elopement with

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

from

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

and Priam's decision to support the two lovers rather than return Helen to her husband Menalaus and his consequent acceptance of the war with the Greeks.

''The Death of Achilles''

The second episode concentrates on the final year of the war. It covers the quarrel between

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

and

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husb ...

, the deaths of

Patroclus In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, Achilles and Paris and concludes with the

Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

and the fall of Troy.

''Helen at Ephesus''

The final episode concerns events after the war. It covers

Klytemnestra Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...

's revenge on Agamemnon and their children

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and ...

and

Electra Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...

's revenge on her and subsequent sentencing. It also portrays the lives of Menalaus and Helen after they are separated by a shipwreck and she is raped, mutilated and sold into slavery by pirates. It ends with their reunion.

''Men Do Not Go to War Over Women''

Gina Landor Gina or GINA or ''variation'' may refer to: Gina Gina may refer to: * Gina (given name), multiple individuals * Gina (Canaan), a town in ancient Canaan * Arihant (Jainism), also called gina, a term for a human who has conquered his or her inner p ...

has adapted a selection from the trilogy as ''Men Do Not Go to War Over Women''. It features speeches by Helen and Klytemnestra. Landor has performed it at the

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade ...

in 2000 and at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 2004. She has also taken it to the Balkans.

Critical reception

When ''Troy'' was first transmitted it received much praise. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

s critic Robert Hanks summed up its approach to its subject as follows: "If Troy has a theme, it is accepting what life throws at you, the grace that is left when ambition and possessions and everything else you thought made life enjoyable have been stripped away". He praised the play's "boldly conceived, always searching approach to the story and its infinite meanings" and the strength of the casting, though he had qualms about the score and how the language shifted between the archaic and the modern.Robert Hanks
Arts & Books: Troy: this time it's personal
, ''

'' Saturday, 28 November 1998. Link checked 29 June 2009. Colleague Sue Gaisford had no such reservations stating "Jeremy Mortimer's production of Andrew Rissik's trilogy is probably the greatest radio drama nyonecould ever hear". She praises the language as "spare, poetic, beautiful", noting the use sometimes of

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

and extended

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory ima ...

. Ken Garner of ''

The Express on Sunday The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' noted that "most of the acting was intimate, understated, with long monologues. Only in the conflict between Achilles (Toby Stephens) and Hektor (Michael Maloney) did language and delivery match the violent action." In contrast to Hanks, he saw the score as a positive element "It still made sense stripped of verbal passion. Nick Russell-Pavier and David Chilton's martial music supplied the tension bled out of the script." In summation, "This was a Trojan War for our time, a tale of intimate, everyday human weakness; they sought 'the life of quietness', while knowing their desire was destroying it."Ken Garner, ''The Express On Sunday'' quoted at
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References

{{reflist, 3

External links

BBC Radio 7 programme details
British radio dramas 1998 radio dramas Trojan War literature Agamemnon