Simon Armitage

David Birrell

Jake Fairbrother

Richard Bremmer

Colin Tierney

Gillian Bevan

Claire Calbraith

Simon Harrison

Lily Cole

Tom Stuart

Francesca Zoutewelle

Garry Cooper

Brendan O’Hea

Luca Rawlinson

Armitage was the real star, with his vivid and muscular dialogue and occasional flashes of humour…The Last Days of Troy was a powerful reflection on the folly of men and the cruelty of war.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Lily Cole stars as Helen of Troy, ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’, in Simon Armitage’s vivid, visceral adaptation of Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid 
 
For ten years, the Greeks have been laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the war drags on, and the battlefields run scarlet with blood, the opposing forces are entrenched in a bitter stalemate. As Gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war, the exhausted warriors go to extreme lengths in a desperate grab for victory… 
 
Dramatised by multi-award-winning poet and playwright Simon Armitage, The Last Days of Troy was first produced as a stage play at the Manchester Royal Exchange and Shakespeare’s Globe, and this radio version features the original cast. Both a tense action adventure and a powerful commentary on the futility of war, it brings Homer’s ancient myth to dynamic life and explores themes that still resonate today, in a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, East versus West and with the same dangerous combination of pride, lies and self-deception that fuelled the Trojan War. 
 
‘Armitage was the real star, with his vivid and muscular dialogue and occasional flashes of humour…The Last Days of Troy was a powerful reflection on the folly of men and the cruelty of war.’ – Independent 
 
Cast and credits 
Agamemnon..................................................................David Birrell 
Achilles..................................................................Jake Fairbrother 
Zeus..................................................................Richard Bremmer 
Odysseus..................................................................Colin Tierney 
Hera..................................................................Gillian Bevan 
Andromache/Thetis................................................Claire Calbraith 
Hector..................................................................Simon Harrison 
Helen..................................................................Lily Cole 
Paris..................................................................Tom Stuart 
Athene/Briseis..................................................................Francesca Zoutewelle 
Priam..................................................................Garry Cooper 
Patroclus..................................................................Brendan O’Hea 
Astyanax..................................................................Luca Rawlinson 
 
Original music by Alex Baranowski 
Directed for radio by Susan Roberts 
First directed for The Royal Exchange Theatre by Nick Bagnall

Simon Armitage

Praise for The Last Days of Troy

Armitage was the real star, with his vivid and muscular dialogue and occasional flashes of humour…The Last Days of Troy was a powerful reflection on the folly of men and the cruelty of war.

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