While on his way to fight in the war against Troy, the Greek warrior Philoctetes -- keeper of the bows and arrows of Hercules -- is bitten by a snake, resulting in a painful abscess that will not heal. Disgusted by the wound, his comrades abandon him on a deserted island. There, Philoctetes manages to survive by using his magical weapons. A decade later, when the war is at a stalemate, an oracle decrees that only Philoctetes' charmed bow can bring victory to the Greeks, so two of the Grecian warriors, Odysseus and Neoptolemus, return to the island to persuade the bitter exile to give them the weapons.
"The Cure at Troy," Seamus Heaney's retelling of the story immortalized by Homer and Sophocles, will be presented March 26-April 18 at the Yale Repertory Theatre, corner of Chapel and York streets. The play by the Nobel Prize-winning poet will be directed by Liz Diamond, assistant professor of directing at the School of Drama.
"In 'The Cure at Troy' as in his verse, Seamus Heaney demonstrates an extraordinary gift for writing poetry that bristles with powerful theatrical expression," says Stan Wojewodski Jr., artistic director of the Yale Rep and dean of the School of Drama. "Heaney's language is both kinetic and natural, and his choice of Sophocles' story of the warrior who must find a way to fuse forgiveness and honor continues to resonate in Heaney's Northern Ireland, in our country and in the world at large."
Heaney, who has been the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University since 1982, won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1995. "The Cure at Troy" is his only published work for the theater. Heaney's poetry collections include "Door into the Dark," "Wintering Out," "North," "Station Island," "The Haw Lantern" and "Seeing Things."
In addition to her drama school appointment, Diamond is resident director at
the Yale Rep. Her Yale productions have included "Mrs. Warren's Profession," "School for Wives," "The America Play," "Le Bourgeois Avant-Garde," "The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World" and last spring's "The Skin of Our Teeth." Diamond has won several Obie Awards and Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including two for Outstanding Direction.
The role of Philoctetes will be played by Reg E. Cathey, who appeared in Diamond's productions of "The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World" and "Le Bourgeois Avant-Garde" at the Yale Rep. J. Ed Araiza, who portrays Odysseus, has performed at regional theaters and workshops around the world as a company member of the Saratoga International Theater Institute. Louis A. Laporte Jr., who plays Neoptolemus, is a member of the National Playwrights Conference's Acting Company and is returning to New Haven after starring in "The Day the Bronx Died" at the Long Wharf Theatre, a production that was also performed at the American Jewish Theatre.
Appearing as the Chorus are Angela Bullock, Robin Dana Miles and Socorro Santiago. Bullock has extensive regional theatre experience, and her television credits include "Law and Order," "Another World" and "The Guiding Light." Miles, a graduate of the School of Drama, has appeared both off-Broadway and in regional theatres throughout the country. Santiago has both Broadway, off-Broadway and film credits, and can currently be seen as Isabella Santos on "All My Children."
Tickets for "The Cure at Troy" are $25-$32; group discounts and subscriptions are also available. To purchase tickets, call the Yale Rep box office at 432-1234, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays.
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