Ajax Program: Director’s Note

When I first started thinking about working on a Greek tragedy over a year ago, it was immediately clear that Ajax was the play I was most excited about directing. I had always been attracted to the remarkable character of Ajax as somebody who is passed over and faces becoming redundant. As I began thinking more about the play I started seeing his story everywhere, from accounts in the media of the many cases of PTSD amongst returning soldiers, to those unable to find even menial work after having run complex high-level operations in a war situation, to the epidemic of military suicides and the call-centers springing up in response, soldiers seemed to be going through shockingly similar experiences to Ajax. Especially in the context of modern warfare where we are so removed from the day-to-day action of war (despite incredible access through technology), I began asking what our civic duty is as a community during war—and seeing Ajax as a response to that.

One of the most exciting formal challenges of taking on a Greek play today is how to translate the chorus for a modern audience. The central function of the chorus is as a representation of community – a reflection of the audience. They perform a vital emotional function, as a lightning rod that courses through the play and connects us to a larger realm by asking us to reflect on what we are seeing. With this in mind, it seemed most relevant to comprise the chorus of people who live in the Boston area. It includes both military and civilian members, active service-people, veterans, young and old, students, doctors, elected officials, the unemployed, educators, mothers, grandfathers, those working in industry, the arts, media, technology and business worlds, and many more.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to me over the past days and weeks – working with the actors, design team and chorus to create the production – is how directly the play touches all our lives. From the pilot who recently returned from Iraq who told me “I definitely feel better knowing that soldiers went through this thousands of years ago too,” to the teenager who passionately relayed how disappointed she was to feel let down by our political leaders in whom she had put so much trust, to the woman who told us how her original arch enemy in business has over the course of a lifetime become a dear friend, to the man who told me he felt “humiliated and lost” when the factory he had worked at for over twenty years laid him off last year, it has become strikingly clear that Ajax is a story we all relate to.

We are living in a time of great change, emerging from a war, and undergoing huge economic, political and moral upheaval. The event Ajax goes through, one of experiencing first hand the wrenching difficulty of truly changing, is one that speaks especially clearly to us right now. Out of a difficult and divisive situation, Ajax ultimately becomes a binding force, bringing together his community. I hope that through making and watching this play today we can do the same.

–Sarah Benson

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