The Last Days Of Troy 

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

3/5 

LAST year the Royal Exchange commissioned poet Simon Armitage to dramatise Homer’s sprawling epic poem The Iliad. 

Armitage has form for this type of work, with an acclaimed working of the Odyssey for the BBC a decade ago, yet it is a tall task to give a narrative flow to  Homer’s broad and sweeping account of the Greco-Trojan war.

He does a commendable job in distilling the work into a comprehensible history of the long and bloody conflict which captures the inherent stupidity of a war where macho posturing and unbending egos make life and humanity inconsequential. 

But the challenge for director Nick Bagnall is how to turn Armitage’s eloquent words into something visually dramatic. Unfortunately, this is less successful. 

The opening is promising, with a now redundant old Zeus reduced to hawking tacky souvenirs to tourists in a bid to eke out a living and his wife Hera weathering the fall from the dizzy heights of Supreme Being better than her crusty old husband. This is a lovely double act  between Richard Bremmer as Zeus and the wonderful Gillian Bevan as Hera. 

But where the play falters is in retelling the actual war. Although  the battle scenes are ably choreographed, the war is reduced to a deal of stomping around and banging of spears. 

The main protagonists hector and shout, while there are times when Achilles behaves like a grumpy, moody teenager who needs a good slap. How did this man earn his warrior credentials, one wonders.

And what of Helen, the face that launched a 1,000 ships, the prize coveted by both sides in a pointless war? In Homer’s poem her character is ambiguous and somewhat enigmatic and her portrayal will always be a challenge. Lily Cole’s brave performance is almost too distant and there’s no real chemistry between her and an insipid Paris (Tom Stuart) which would justify his determination to hold on to her. 

Overall, a dearth of insight or tension makes this a rather long, bloody and ponderous affair. 

The abiding memory is of the spark between Zeus and Hera which lights  up the overwhelming gloom shrouding proceedings. 

Runs until June 7. Box Office: (0161) 833-9833.