In Malthouse Theatre’s production of TROY, Tom Wright’s lyrical and unflinching excavation of the Trojan myths, directed by Ian Michael, is an epic work that is deeply human. This is not a retelling of ancient glories but a devastatingly intimate portrait of loss, endurance, and the cycles of violence that shape human history.
Paula Arundell’s Hecuba, the fierce and grieving Queen of Troy commands the stage with elemental force, her voice and presence resonates with sorrow, rage, and unbreakable dignity. It is a performance that anchors the production and renders the myth deeply, urgently present.
Danny Ball delivers performances of astonishing range. As Apollo, he radiates divine vengeance, terrifying and merciless; as Achilles, he is both warrior and monster, his humanity flickering beneath the legend in moments that cut like lightning. Geraldine Hakewill’s Clytemnestra brims with the stillness of power and the inevitability of vengeance, every line delivered with precision and weight.
Elizabeth Blackmore’s Cassandra is spectral and magnetic, her visions carrying both terror and clarity. She inhabits the role with an intensity that makes her prophecy feel less like madness than unbearable truth. Ciline Ajobong, in her dual portrayals of Cressida and Iphigenia, captures the tragic breadth of female experience in wartime, from youthful vulnerability betrayed by love to the innocence of a child sacrificed to appease the gods.
Mark Leonard Winter is superb in two towering roles: his Agamemnon a study in command riddled with doubt, his Hector noble, humane, and doomed to break our hearts. Completing the ensemble is Lyndon Watts, who brings thrilling contrasts to Patroclus and Helen. His Helen, especially, is reimagined with complexity, less a symbol than a human being caught in history’s cruel machinery.
What makes Michael’s direction so remarkable is its refusal to indulge in heroic spectacle. Instead, he strips the myths back to their bones, finding in them the frailty, endurance, and contradictions of human life. This focus on humanity over heroism makes TROY feel startlingly contemporary.
The production is elevated by its design. Dann Barber’s set and costumes merge antiquity and modernity, situating the action in a timeless ruin. Elegant headpieces and gleaming breastplates are juxtaposed with deconstructed designer t-shirts, a visual language that collapses centuries and underscores the cyclical nature of conflict.
Paul Jackson’s lighting sculpts the space with precision, conjuring both the vastness of battlefields and the intimacy of whispered grief. Rosalind Hall’s score weaves breath, instrument, and silence into an aural tapestry, while Marco Cher’s sound design grounds the production in visceral immediacy.
And then there is one moment audiences will carry with them long after leaving the theatre: Lyndon Watts’ exquisite rendition of Sinéad O’Connor’s TROY. It is utterly spellbinding, a lament, an invocation, a cry that transcends centuries, as myth and memory converge.
Malthouse’s TROY is a work of monumental ambition that speaks with intimacy and urgency. It reminds us that myths endure not because of their heroes, but because they echo the cycles of change and resilience that define our own lives and future.
TROY
Merlyn Theatre – Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Performance: Tuesday 9 September 2025
Season continues to 25 September 2025
Information and Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au
Images: The Cast of TROY – photo by Pia Johnson | Geraldine Hakewill and Ciline Ajobong in TROY – photo by Pia Johnson | Danny Ball and Lyndon Watts in TROY – photo by Pia Johnson | Lyndon Watts in TROY – photo by Pia Johnson
Review: Rohan Shearn