A Warrior King Returns

“Memnon” is a largely forgotten name in the Greek mythological canon.

For centuries, the story of the Aethiopian king and demigod has been regarded as little more than an obscure subplot of the famous Trojan War.

Until now.

Memnon is an epic tale of a powerful warrior-king’s return during Troy’s darkest hour, told through bold, intense action and intimate character introspection.

Bringing a Forgotten Legend to Life

When one hears mention of a Greek myth about a king named “Memnon,” an understandable first thought is: “You mean Agamemnon?”

That was the king who came to mind four years ago for Carl Cofield, director of The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH), when first asked if he knew the forgotten hero’s story.

“I was just embarrassed, quite frankly, to say I don’t know this story. I became rabid in my pursuit, asking ‘Why don’t I know this?’”

He brought his questions and desire to share Memnon’s story to his friend and collaborator, playwright Will Power, who brought the legend to life in his script.

As Memnon begins, the Trojan War has been raging for a decade, and Troy is on the verge of being sacked by the encroaching Greek armies. In an act of desperation, King Priam of Troy calls on his nephew, the great warrior-king Memnon, to return from Aethiopia and defend the city his ancestors called home.

Memnon, though, is only half-Trojan. As he journeys to the city’s aid, he must reconcile the desire to save his beloved Troy with a painful truth: he has never been considered a true Trojan because of the color of his skin.

Memnon’s story is one of “true identity and belonging, and what that means,” Cofield says. “Much like the rest of the Greek canon, it asks big questions. It asks who we are as a society, what do we value, and from whom do we value participation?”

How Could a Demigod Hero, an Equal of Achilles, Be Forgotten?

Relatively few ancient Greek plays survive today, though many of these original mythologies can be pieced together using their depictions in art and on ancient artifacts. The story of Memnon was largely lost and neglected by popular history, but his legend lives on in the intricate paintings decorating several Greek vases in the Getty Villa museum.

As Cofield and Power discovered more about Memnon, it quickly became apparent that his disappearance from the modern collective memory was also an erasure of the diverse and interconnected world of Greek mythology.

“It’s easy to have a myopic sense of what the people and the characters and the culture of this particular story looked like. [The story of the Trojan war] is very whitewashed,” says Daniel José Molina, who plays Polydamas and Antilochus.

In Memnon, Power wanted to challenge that, and “to really shed light on some of the inherited mythology we’ve all come to take as fact,” Cofield says.

In one scene in Memnon, a messenger describes what he sees on the battlefield. The Trojans are on the verge of defeat, but the enemy suddenly retreats. The messenger soon sees why: the African and Indian armies led by King Memnon have appeared on the horizon just in time.

Eric Berryman, who plays Memnon, says, “That is one of my favorite parts because I think it really helps to rewrite our programmed narrative and our small knowledge of who was involved in this mythological Trojan war.”

Weaving the Past with the Present

“[Power] and I were adamant that the story feel like it was recently discovered, unearthed,” Cofield says.

Throughout the play, dancers perform the role of a Greek traditional chorus, while actors speak and interact in the poetic meter of a classical Greek play. But these historical elements are given a modern twist: Memnon has the dynamic action, fight choreography, costumes, and set design of a contemporary production.

“Typically [in an ancient Greek play] all of the major action happens offstage,” Berryman says. “You would have the fight and then Memnon would come back in and tell you about the battle. But now you get a chance to see the fight.”

“She’s Setting the Record Straight.”

Memnon’s story is not the only one being investigated in the play. Two better-known Greek mythological figures, Helen (of “of Troy” fame) and Achilles, are examined from a new angle that seeks to tell us their stories as they might’ve told them: in their own words, from their own mouths.

“To hear Helen speak for herself is wild,” says Andrea Patterson, who plays Helen, “because we’ve all decided that she’s the one that caused the Trojan War. But let’s just say she’s setting the record straight a bit.”

Memnon also shows us the human side of the demigod Achilles.

Jesse Corbin, who plays Achilles, says: “This character is probably one of the greatest warriors in all of history and mythology, but he’s also very emotional, very moody. I feel like he’s the epitome of an Aries where it’s just soldier, warrior, passionate individual, but then he wants to just crawl into bed when he’s not feeling great…

“Achilles is hyped up as this giant slayer and no one can withstand him, and he’s filled with rage and fury. And my first entrance onto stage is just me moping in bed. You see this very human character who’s struggling with very human things. I don’t think we get to see that a lot in Greek mythology because everything’s larger than life. So, to get to relate to someone who's a demigod in a way that you go, ‘Oh, I also have bad days and moody moments’ is kind of a cool experience.”