The Trojan War Will Not Take Place

Fogg Museum's enclosed court should be a far more interesting and intimate theater than Wellesley's drab Alumnae Hall; that may be the only saving grace of last night's out-of-town opening of "The Trojan War Will Not Take Place."

Jean Giraudoux' comedy-satire clothes the theme of war and its causes in the flowing dress of Greek and Trojan; in doing so it saddles that theme with the static staging and long speeches of all but the most sensitively handled of Greek dramas. Last night's HTG's production was fully adequate, but only rarely sensitive. The result was disappointing.

Girandoux' dialogue tends to preach, and the HTG's cast was not able to overcome that, June Garfield, Cannaught O'Connell, and David Bowen came the closest perhaps, the rest of the east ranged from good to weak, and showed an opening night predisposition towards blowing its lines. Giraudoux' dialogue also suffers in the translation (example: "Ajax is the meanest plug ugly among the Greeks") and there was nothing the HTG could do about that. Perhaps the Fogg Court will cut down both the immobility and the talkiness of tonight's HTG production, but it will do little to remedy Girandoux' annoying tendency to preach rather than entertain.