‘Nobody cared about Helen’ is a full-length dance performance about violence as a structuring principle that shapes bodies, language, and social order. Drawing on the ‘Iliad’, Homer’s ancient Greek epic about the Trojan War, and a reading of the French philosopher Simone Weil’s ‘The Iliad, or the Poem of Force’, the piece creates a landscape in which violence in interpersonal relationships acts almost like a tangible material – capable of altering a person’s entire being. It follows its effects far beyond the battlefield into everyday life.
Following the stories of figures from Greek tragedy, the piece attempts to dissolve the comfortable distance between mythological narratives and contemporary life, uncovering resonances between canonical material and the social, political, and intimate structures of the present.

Chelsea
Clementine
Cordelia
Dora
Nadja

The performers of ‘Nobody cared about Helen’ fill this landscape with their own and borrowed identities, haunted by an absent figure in whose name – allegedly – a war is being waged.
By weaving language and movement into a porous narrative of truth and storytelling, the piece examines power relations not only on a physical level but also between language and what occurs on stage. It raises questions about authorship, narrative framing, and the perception of “truth.”

‘Nobody cared about Helen’ is a production by Smadar Goshen in cooperation with Theater RAMPE.

With the kind support of the Produktionszentrum Tanz und Performance Stuttgart and Auktionen Münzhandlung Sonntag.

Special thanks to Nachtsicht e.V. for their support.

Tel.: 0711-620090915
Email: karten@theaterrampe.de