Charlotte is fifteen, fat and ugly. Her beautiful mother is dead, her grieving dad can barely talk to her and her best friend is a faggot. To cope with it all Charlotte devises a vivid fantasy world centred around the beautiful Helen of Troy, which provides some comfort, but her mild psychosis is slowly destroying the lives of those around her.Charlotte is fifteen, fat and ugly. Her beautiful mother is dead, her grieving dad can barely talk to her and her best friend is a faggot. To cope with it all Charlotte devises a vivid fantasy world centred around the beautiful Helen of Troy, which provides some comfort, but her mild psychosis is slowly destroying the lives of those around her.She wants to have a face that launched a thousand ships but will settle for becoming a porn star.
Inspired by Euripides but with its sights set firmly on contemporary America, A Brief History of Helen of Troy is an unsettling and startlingly examination of complacency culture and the politics of beauty.
This hard-hitting, hilarious and horrifying new American script weaves grittily realistic scenes with heightened surrealism to explore the female relationship to beauty, desire and fame.
Come reminisce on your teenage years. Weren't they shit.
A Brief History of Helen of Troy
Written by Mark Schultz (USA)
Directed by Heather O'Carroll
11-28 March 2009, 6.30pm
BATS THEATRE, 1 Kent Tce
Bookings: book@bats.co.nz or 04 802 4175 | Cost: $16/13
Starring: Erin Banks, Rowan Bettjeman, Esther-Rose Green, Eli Kent and Matt Chamberlain.
Designed By: Tureiti Nelson (Blasted) and Rachel Marlow (Rubber Turkey)
27/02/09