Ava Pickett’s Bloodsport: after Helen of Troy is currently being staged at Stratford East. Although the staging comes after the success of 1536, the play was actually written earlier. Here, the face who sank 1000 ships (played by Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey fame) lives in Essex and we meet her when she is brought home by her husband, after the war.
Pickett cleverly uses the Greek technique of the Messenger to deliver details of the past and of battles, allowing the main play to keep to the unities of time and place: the main action happens in one living room over one night. Ethan Moorhouse as the Messenger is raw and blunt, almost spitting the words out, but eloquent and every phrase is piercingly heard. His speech about “when a woman says no” is painful in its historical accuracy and necessity. Indeed, the day after we watched the show, we received word of sexual harassment taking place on our local allotments, somewhere where surely the only thought should be weeds, crops and sharing shovels.
It is intriguing too to think of the catalysts to modern battles or riots. Why does one event cause riots while another does not? There does not always seem to be a particularly good reason for one to spark a riot and one not to do so. In the 2011 London riots, for example, it was suggested that Ealing was targeted due to its good transport links. And the sense of euphoria captured in some of the 2011 testimonies, “It was all a laugh. It was like a, just a fun day out“ and “ it was so worth it. If I could go back in time I wouldn’t change it. Absolutely worth it.” does not seem to be tied to a particular cause. Pickett’s description of the battles around Helen captures this sense of disaffected men seeking a fight and Helen’s leaving her husband for a “foreigner” being deemed a sufficient reason. The conditions were right.
Helen is mobilised to represent England itself: she is green grass, she is a 99 ice cream, she is the Red Arrows. The real person becomes a mascot for everything people want to believe about their country. The real Helen is almost immaterial.
Helen’s best friend Cee (Laura Aikman) is initially easy to dislike, obsessed with her cream house, her cream clothes, her nails. Later we realise she represents the wife who has stood by and looked away from her husband’s actions, blithely aspirational as she hands round mozzarella sticks and prawn picky bits while the world crumbles. She is at her most human when she stands up for Helen’s daughter Hermione (Emma Monnickendam).
Maimuna Memon (Dani) is firmly determined in her role as a fighter alongside Helen. She delivers the unexpected ending of the play that at first seems somewhat a waste but actually echoes a common experience down the ages: “Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children“, coined in 1793 by Jacques Mallet du Pan, describing that as revolutions proceed, later members may find earlier ones not pure or dedicated enough.
Bloodsport: after Helen of Troy successfully uses the Greek myth of Helen as a lens to help us examine our own society. Alongside the success of 1536, it is exciting to look out for what Pickett does next.
Image credit: Tristram Kenton
BOOKING DETAILS:
Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy is at Theatre Royal Stratford East until Saturday 10 October 2026.
Running time :2 hours, including an interval.
Age guidance 14+: content warning for strong language, misogyny, murder, xenophobia, war, weapons, blood, references to sexual violence, vaping, loud sounds including gunshots, and flashing lights.
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