Bring on the tale of Troy...
DAVID Farr produced The Night Manager for the telly which everyone liked and he’s a big cheese at the Royal Shakespeare Company so much is expected of his new big budget Troy: Fall Of A City which began last weekend on BBC One. The Trojan War? I love it. Can’t get enough of it. Priam, Hecuba, Paris, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra – these were my childhood companions. I read and reread Roger Lancelyn Green’s Tale Of Troy and Tales Of The Greek Heroes until the covers fell off. And I’m probably one of the few remaining nerds who thinks of the Iliad rather than Marge Simpson when someone says Homer. It’s my weakness, my Achilles heel and my Elysian field. Even so I was worried about the new series’ upmarket credentials thinking it might be rather over solemn as a result. Because it is a non-negotiable rule that any big budget sword-and-sandals screen epic must be trash. Enjoyable trash. But trash nonetheless. And so it was. There was screaming childbirth in terrible weather and the flash of an episiotomy knife so alarming that it would never be allowed in Call The Midwife. There was blood, there were stallions. Cassandra (daughter of Priam, cursed to speak true prophecies that were never believed) looked as convincingly hacked off as anyone would look who knew that they were condemned to a lifetime of unrelieved mansplaining.
The dialogue was often iffy. “How did you two get together?” Paris asked Helen and Menelaus as though he was interviewing a couple of Z-list celebs for Closer magazine. There was lots of enthusiastic outdoor sex, minxy goddesses, beardy muscly men and enough thongs, tassels and burnished leather straps to equip a fetish shop. Plus nice sunny weather.
Even though I know what happens I’m hooked. Paris (occasionally known as Alexander which is confusing) takes off with Helen who is “the most beautiful woman in the world”. No pressure then Helen!
THE affair between Paris and Helen results in the most terrible war, the most appalling suffering. Said David Farr in Radio Times: “This is the oldest European story. An epic battle between two countries. All fought for love.”
The oldest story. Joking apart it always sends shivers down my spine. Whatever silliness you do to these mythic tales, however much you make fun of these familiar characters the stories are as indestructible as diamonds. They still make us feel pity, terror, a whole menu of emotions. What was it like for these two lovers to bring about the destruction of their entire world? Imagine.
So Troy – glossy Saturday night hokum and eternal truths. I’m in for the long haul.