Achilles on Stage with Ewan Downie

08/04/21 • 42 min

In this episode, Alice and Nicolas interview Ewan Downie, an actor, writer, director and co-founder of the Company of Wolves, a laboratory theatre company whose mission is to make compelling drama ‘that speaks directly to the times in which we live’. Ewan recently staged a one-man show that explored the story of Achilles, an ancient Greek warrior made famous by Homer's epic poem The Iliad , which tells the story of the Trojan War - a topic we touched on in last week's podcast with NMT Automatics.
In this episode we talk about why the character of Achilles has always fascinated people and what kind of hero he actually is. As Ewan puts it, 'Setting Achilles on an army is a bit like a drone strike, nobody else has a chance - and yet we call this person a hero.' That gets us chatting about what we value in warriors, and what our heroisation of figures like Achilles can tell us about our wider habits of visualising and justifying acts of war. We also discuss the role that myths and archetypes can play in helping us understand our own impulses and behaviours - and how Ewan's representation of Achilles got audiences asking huge questions like 'why do we still kill each other?' In Ewan's words, mythology is a great tool in shaking us up and making us wonder who we are and what we want to be.
Among other questions, we asked:

How influential are ancient war stories on modern habits of visualising war?
What aspects of Achilles' story and character did Ewan want to emphasise, and why?
How have audiences responded to Ewan's harrowing representation of Achilles' rage and grief?
Could his deconstruction of the 'hero' Achilles be seen as 'anti war'?
What impact does he think theatre can have on how we see, question and understand conflict across time?

We hope you enjoy the episode!
For a version of our podcast with close captions, please use this link. You can find out more about Ewan's work and find clips of his plays on the Company of Wolves website.
For more information about individuals and their projects, access to resources and more, please have a look on the University of St Andrews Visualising War website.

Music composed by Jonathan Young
Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin

How influential are ancient war stories on modern habits of visualising war?
What aspects of Achilles' story and character did Ewan want to emphasise, and why?
How have audiences responded to Ewan's harrowing representation of Achilles' rage and grief?
Could his deconstruction of the 'hero' Achilles be seen as 'anti war'?
What impact does he think theatre can have on how we see, question and understand conflict across time?

Music composed by Jonathan Young
Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin

Previous Episode

Staging Ancient and Modern War Stories with NMT Automatics

In this episode, Alice and Nicolas interview members of NMT Automatics, a theatre company which specialises in updating ancient myths for modern audiences. Co-founders Jennie Dunne and Jonathan Young have been working with director Andres Velasquez and dramaturg Mairin O'Hagan to develop a new play, Tempus Fugit: Troy and Us, which weaves together an Ancient Greek war story from Homer's Iliad with the tale of a modern military couple, Alec and Bea. The Visualising War project has been feeding into their research process, so we enjoyed catching up with them to find out how the play has evolved.
In the podcast, we talk about how ancient models of military heroism can both help and hamper our visualisations of war today, and the NMTA team explain how they use ancient characters like Hector, Achilles, Ajax and Andromache to raise important questions about how war is imagined and experienced in the 21st century. They talk about the role that theatre and storytelling can play in deepening understanding of what soldiers, civilians and families go through, and how their play ended up focusing on the experiences of the military spouse. As they explain, what partners of serving soldiers go through is not discussed very often; but those partners spend a lot of time trying to visualise the wars which their loved ones are fighting in or preparing for, so they offer a fascinating perspective from which to explore wider habits of visualising war. Along the way, we chat about the cliches that often crop up when war is represented on stage and screen, and the important work that plays like Tempus Fugit can do in challenging assumptions and offering different viewpoints.
Among other questions, we asked:

What films/war stories shaped their habits of visualising war in the past?
What cliches about conflict do stage and screen dramatisations tend to reinforce? And what role can theatre play in challenging those cliches?
What can ancient war stories bring to modern understandings of war and conflict?
What connections do they draw between the experiences of Hector and Andromache in the Trojan war and modern conflict/military culture as experienced by Alex and Bea?
Why did they end up focusing on military spouses/partners, and what does that angle bring to the wider study of war?
What impact do they hope their new play, Tempus Fugit, will have on military and civilian audiences?

We hope you enjoy the episode!
For a version of our podcast with close captions, please use this link. To find out more about the wider research we have been doing into dramatisations of war on stage and screen, you can read this blog.
For more information about individuals and their projects, access to resources and more, please have a look on the University of St Andrews Visualising War website.

Music composed by Jonathan Young
Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin

Next Episode

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting with Anthony Borden

In this week's episode, Alice interviews Anthony Borden, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Founded 30 years ago, the IWPR thinks globally but works locally, fostering grassroots journalism in many different parts of the world. Via training, mentoring and support on the ground, it empowers local journalists and civil society groups to tackle disinformation and to inform, educate and mobilise their own communities. Its mission is to 'give voice to people at the frontlines of conflict and transition to help them drive change'.
Alice and Tony chat about the IWPR's history - how it came into being in the 1990s during the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia, and then expanded in the aftermath of 9/11. They discuss how war and peace reporting has changed over the years, particularly with the advent of digital media and the rise of citizen journalism. Fake news and the increasing 'fog of war' makes accurate, reliable reporting more important than ever, but journalists operate in increasingly hostile environments, with the tracking of their digital 'footprints' often adding to physical threats on the ground. Tony explains what impact mentoring by experienced journalists can have in supporting journalists and activists who are working in challenging environments and in encouraging new voices to emerge. He reveals that Malala Yousafzai first started out as a trainee on the IWPR's Open Minds project, before becoming a trainer herself. As the episode goes on, he reflects on the vital role that good journalism can play, not only in reporting accurately on wars but in reducing the drivers of conflict. As he puts it, the principles of good journalism - facts, balance, fairness and decency of tone - are foundational tools in conflict resolution.
Among other questions, Alice asked:

what inspired the foundation of the IWPR, and how was its mission defined?
what role can or should journalism play in conflict zones and peace processes?
what difference does it make to empower marginalised voices during conflicts and periods of transition? And what risks do we face if we do not support voices on the ground to have their say and drive change ?
how might war and peace reporting change in the coming decades?
what work will the IWPR be prioritising to meet the challenges of the future and continue supporting war and peace reporting around the world?

We hope you enjoy the episode!
For a version of our podcast with close captions, please use this link.
You can find out more about the work of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting on their website. As an NGO, they rely on fundraising to keep their important work going; so if you have been inspired by what you have heard, please do consider pressing the red 'donate' button to contribute.
For more information about individuals and their projects, access to resources and more, please have a look on the University of St Andrews Visualising War website.

Music composed by Jonathan Young
Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin