TROILUS AND CRESSIDA: War and Lechery Reign Supreme in the Public Theater’s Grandly-Realized Shakespeare In The Park Production

Cast Photo by Jennifer Broski

A veritable Who’s Who of the Trojan War is onstage in the Public Theater’s revelatory, thrilling, and thoroughly engaging production of William Shakespeare’s seldom-seen “problem play,” Troilus and Cressida, at Central Park’s open air Delacorte Theater – or as it is generally referred to, Shakespeare In The Park.  

There they are, divided into two camps, those characters whose fame has lived on for centuries. Among those familiar to us on the Trojan side are King Priam and his children:  daughter Cassandra, gifted with the power of prophecy and condemned never to be listened to; son Paris, whose abduction of Helen started the damn war in the first place; and their brother, the mighty warrior Hector. On the Greek side you’ve got such notables as Agamemnon, Commander of the Army; Menelaus, Agamemnon’s brother and cuckolded husband of Helen; and the legendary warriors Ulysses, Ajax, and Achilles.

The first thing you should know about the play is this: The title characters are but pawns in the game that is the Trojan War. They get together after some manipulative goading by Cressida’s sleazy uncle Pandarus (portrayed in a wonderfully comic and icky performance by John Glover), whose syphilis-riddled body appears to fall apart before our eyes as the evening progresses.

The delightfully starry-eyed scenes between Troilus (Andrew Burnap) and Cressida (Ismenia Mendes) argue convincingly that they deserve a romantic Shakespearean comedy of their own. But, alas, after one night of lusty love-making, Cressida is tagged in a prisoner exchange that tears them apart and sends her to the Greeks. And while the lovers pledge faithfulness, Cressida is in no position to keep that promise; she protects herself from being passed among the soldiers as a camp whore by hooking up with Diomedes (Zach Appelman), who at least will protect her. (Try explaining that to the stiff-necked Troilus, however). 

Much of the play focuses on the war, which has been going on for seven years. The Greeks are in disarray. Their one-time hero Achilles (a strong performance by Louis Cancelmi, a last-minute replacement for an injured David Harbour) has long since stepped down from the battle. He can mostly be found goofing off and romping in bed with his boyfriend Patroclus (Tom Pecinka).

Ulysses (Corey Stoll) concocts a scheme with General Agamemnon (John Douglas Thompson) to goad Achilles into one-on-one combat with Hector (Bill Heck),  the Trojan champion. But Achilles refuses to take the proffered bait, and it is the doofus Ajax (played in all-out surfer dude glory by Alex Breaux) who takes up the challenge. When Hector polishes him off (while sparing his life), war resumes at full tilt. Eventually, Achilles takes up arms once more and here we go again. 

Past audiences may have been confused by the play's mix of romance, dark comedy, and war, but Troilus and Cressida is truly and thoroughly modern in its jaundiced view of human follies and foibles. As the reluctant and cynical soldier Thersites (a terrific Max Casella) declares, all is “war and lechery.” This is the prevailing theme of the play, and Shakespeare provides the concluding exclamation mark as John Glover faces the audience and promises to “bequeathe you my diseases.” 

This production – so well directed by Daniel Sullivan and blessed with a cast of some two dozen top-notch actors – makes the case for Troilus and Cressida as one of the great Shakespeare dramas, often puzzled over but hardly ever seen. The plot unfolds with clarity, and while Sullivan employs modernisms (laptop computers and contemporary military uniforms and weapons), he completely honors Shakespeare’s language, and the wonderful performances make it accessible to our ears. Unless you are gunshot-phobic (the sounds of battle are pervasive), grab a ticket if you can.  You are unlikely to see as good in the foreseeable future.  

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'Father Comes Home From The Wars': A Masterful New Work Gets A First-Class Production At The Public Theater

The biggest, most cutting truth in the Public Theater’s first-rate production of Suzan-Lori Parks’s terrific Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, and III comes out of the mouth of a stereotypically nasty and oafish slave owner during the Civil War era. 

Speaking of the plight of blacks in America, whether slave or free, the character identified as The Colonel (aka “Boss Master”) proclaims, “I am grateful every day that God made me white. The lowly ones will always be lowly no matter how high they climb.” How swiftly this remark propels us out of the nineteenth century and into the present day, where public displays of imbedded racism extend all the way to the often contemptuous and condescending treatment of the current President of the United States, someone who certainly fulfills the description of a black man who has climbed high. 

Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, and III is smart like that, full of unexpected turns and well-placed dialog that are both true to the context and that flash forward through implication to the years and decades ahead. It is most significant that the play concludes with a reference to President Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, which, while a meaningful gesture, was an unenforceable placeholder until the end of the Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution three years after the trilogy of plays ends. 

The proclamation by the Union’s President certainly provides no relief for the slaves under Boss Master’s yoke—not for Homer (Jeremie Harris), whose foot was cut off as punishment for attempting to run away, nor for Hero (Sterling K. Brown), who is under the gun to follow Boss Master, a Confederate colonel, into war in support of a cause he knows to be wrong.  Part I, titled A Measure Of A Man, deals with the painful decision-making process in the pre-dawn hours, during which Hero is advised by various of his fellow slaves (some of whom have placed wagers on the outcome) to stay, to go, or to run away. In the end, allowing himself to believe a promise of future freedom in exchange for current service, he dons the raggedy gray uniform Boss Master has given him and heads off, leaving Penny (Jenny Jules), his almost-wife—slaves were not allowed to marry—behind in Homer’s care.    

In Part II, A Battle In The Wilderness, The Colonel (Ken Marks) and Hero have wandered away from their regiment and the fighting, and are encamped in a clearing some miles from the battleground. By a stroke of luck, they have captured a Union officer (played with great humanity by Louis Cancelmi), so that they now can return in triumph rather than under suspicion of desertion. It is here, in conversation with the officer and Hero, that The Colonel offers up his views on race, including the idea that freedom isn’t all it’s cut out to be. A slave, at least, knows his worth, but what is the worth of a free black man? When he moves on ahead, expecting Hero to clean up the campsite and follow with their captive in tow, Hero finds the inner strength to set the prisoner free, though he himself refuses to flee with him; for Hero, freedom can only come as a gift from his master.   

Part III, The Union Of My Confederate Parts, brings things to a close (at least for now; Ms. Parks has plans for six more plays in the series). Boss Master is dead and Hero, now calling himself Ulysses—after General Grant, though mythic references abound throughout the plays—has returned safely home. But there is no happy ending for him. The other slaves have died or escaped, and he alone will remain behind, tethered to his master’s broken promise, with only a copy of Lincoln’s proclamation of freedom in his pocket. We know that the day of freedom will come for Ulysses, but what that will mean for him is clouded with uncertainty. 

With Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, and III, Ms. Parks has pulled off a triumphant feat of mixing the mythic with the mundane, and serious content with wonderful touches of humor (her great creation here is Odyssey, Hero’s talking dog, portrayed with boundless energy and great fun by Jacob Ming-Trent). The characters are complex, even Boss Master, who is struggling to maintain his footing in a world that is beginning to shift under his feet. By balancing all of these elements, the playwright succeeds in a way that few who have dealt with historic themes have been able to do without coming off as pedantic or getting helplessly lost in the storytelling.  August Wilson comes to mind as someone who has been able to triumph in dramatizing history, with his ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle. Ms. Parks has promised nine plays in her cycle, and it is not hard to imagine her decision to stop at nine as her respectful tribute to Mr. Wilson. 

As if writing the play were not enough, Ms. Parks has also written a number of songs and incidental music that are performed throughout the evening. Steven Bargonetti is responsible for the arrangements and does a splendid of performing some of the numbers, in a way that brings to mind Taj Mahal’s work in the movie Sounder. 

Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, and III is a triumph for all concerned. Director Jo Bonney keeps the action flowing seamlessly through the three works (running time, including one intermission, is two hours and 50 minutes), well supported by Neil Patel’s set design, Esosa’s costumes, Lap Chi Chu’s atmospheric lighting, and a wonderfully talented ensemble of actors. I look forward with eagerness to the next installment.

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