Over millennia, the multiple (unreliable) interpretations of the life of Helen of Troy have made this half-goddess an infinitely re-interpretable character, and she is portrayed across art forms as variously victim and perpetrator, revered and despised, saintly and immoral.
By any account, her life was filled with strangeness and drama. Born from an egg (shared, in this version, with half-sister Clytemnestra), created from the seduction of the Spartan Queen by Zeus disguised as a swan, at a young age Helen gave up the daughter she bore from her childhood rape by Theseus, married her much older brother-in-law Menelaus whom she willingly or unwillingly abandoned, together with their daughter, to go to Troy with Paris, triggering, it is alleged, the Trojan War, before returning happily to Menelaus. Or not.
In That Witch Helen, the incantations of a Chorus invite Helen to tell her own story, which she starts with the looting of Troy, Menelaus’ armies having secured access to the city via the apocryphal horse.
The narrative, which loops through her life back to this point, is peppered with side stories to accentuate the rampant misogyny of the period, lending this debut play of Catie Ridewood a feminist accent.
Having taken these tangents (and others), the narrative returns to the main thread but does not deliver a clear picture of Helen. She terms herself a freak, but does not live the life of one; she comes across as selfish, leaving with Paris out of lust, demanding help from the gods for her own benefit, and perpetuating the decade-long war rather than sacrifice her position for the greater good.
This last is especially relevant, because as Troy falls and she faces returning to the victorious Menelaus, Ridewood’s Helen transforms into a self-appointed patron saint of independent-minded women. As banzai go, “don’t believe everything men tell you about the women they're afraid of” is an incontestable one, but an awkward coda from an unscary Helen.
That Witch Helen is part of SE Fest, a new festival based in south east London to promote and celebrate new writing co-hosted by two award-winning theatres, The Bridge House Theatre in Penge and The Jack Studio Theatre in Crofton Park. SE Fest 2024 runs until 14 September.