Penthesilea

Loft Ensemble
Reviewed by Taylor Kass
Through August 6th

The Trojan War has been raging on for ten years, but the Daughters of Artemis are just hearing about it. This community of women, also known as the Horde, live peacefully even as they train fiercely to uphold their status as a formidable band of warriors. But once they hear of the war surging not far away from their secluded land, they decide to beat the Greeks to the punch and join the fray. First, they need to select a warrior queen to lead them into battle. At Loft Ensemble, Danielle Ozymandias’ new play Penthesilea (directed by Ozymandias and Bree Pavey) is an imaginative twist on an oft-forgotten myth but it ultimately lacks cohesion.

Zenarra James portrays the titular warrior queen with warmth and confidence, even as she grapples with guilt over the shocking way she won her title. Penthesilea is somewhat of an outsider amongst the Daughters of Artemis; having spent her childhood in Greece, she is particularly well-equipped to understand the strange ways of “barbarians” like Agamemnon (Sean Alexander James) and Achilles (Xavier Leflore in the show I attended, role shared with Matt Lorenzo). The fight choreography by Marc Leclerc is robust and well-executed, and makeup design by Angela Santori is as bold and daring as the Horde itself.

But however fiercely these women fight, it’s difficult to understand why. The Trojan War seems to be a distant threat — why risk death? Do these women want glory just as badly as the men they challenge? Do they truly believe backing Troy will help preserve their way of life? Ozymandias injects some thought-provoking feminist discourse into the dialogue (the scene featuring Jennifer DeRosa as Helen is particularly chilling), but there are moments when the time, location, and context of the scene are fuzzy. At times, Pavey and Ozymandias’ blocking also unfortunately saps the show’s energy, with characters frequently walking backwards, delivering lines over their shoulders to upstage scene partners, or clinging to set pieces rather than utilizing the space. Penthesilea’s story absolutely deserves to be brought to life but Penthesilea could benefit from some revision.

Loft Ensemble, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood; Fri. – Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m.; through Aug. 6. www.loftensemble.org or (818) 452-3153. Running time: 2 hours with one 10-minute intermissio