About the work
Anti-war play in two acts by Jean Giraudoux, originally titled "La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu". Louis Jouvet staged the premiere in November 1935 at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris; the German-language premiere followed on 6 November 1936 at Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt, directed by Ernst Lothar.
Plot
The Trojan prince Paris has abducted the Greek Helen. Hector tries to return her to the Greeks and so avert the looming war, but despite every diplomatic effort and against the declared will of most involved, disaster runs its course.
Cultural significance
Written as war loomed over Europe in the 1930s, the play is regarded as an urgent warning that war becomes unstoppable once mechanisms of honour and power interest are set in motion. The writer Paul Claudel, by contrast, viewed the play’s pacifist stance as a troubling trivialisation.