Women and War

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 430, 19 September 1947, Page 5

Women and War

E were a little surprised when we rang a number of ‘ people likely (we, thought) * to be interested in The Trojan "Women and found that only five of the first 20 who answered had listened to the broadcast from 2YA last week. We should have realised that 25 per cent. of the possible or even probable listeners to any broadcast is a large proportion and a very large number. It _ could have meant 100,000 listeners to that play if only one person in each household tuned in had been following the broadcast. No one will suppose that it was as many as that, or half as many, but. it could easily have been a quarter | as many, and perhaps was. What we should most like to know is. how many of the listeners were women. After that we should like to know how many of the women who listened listened to the end, since we should then know whether the agony of those ancient women was communicated. There could hardly be any doubt about it if the broadcast had been in Greek and New Zealand women read and spoke Greek. But the broadcast was a translation into something that for all its brilliance is not quite English, and radio works on our ears only. If women listened to the end it would in many cases be a sign that the struggle to hear and understand all that was said blanketed much of the anguish. To begin with, the record was not quite sharp and ‘ clear; but even if it had been, |

only those who were familiar with the play would grasp all that was happening, and those only with: some knowledge of Greek history and mythology would understand all the allusions. The question is whether great art transcends time and place or whether we deceive ourselves when we say that it does. Women have suffered so terribly during the last eight years that even here in New Zealand where so much was escaped Euripides would choke and blind them if they could still hear him. But perhaps they can’t.