Shakespeare’s Troilus And Cressida is a tale packed with savage comedy, great passion, vivid characters and all the heat and sweat of a long and painful war.

Troilus And Cressida begins seven years since the Greeks first began their siege of Troy, seeking the return of the famous Helen who was captured by the Trojan prince Paris. On the Trojan side of the walls the beautiful Cressida, aided and abetted by her hilariously intriguing uncle Pandarus, has embarked upon a passionate love affair with Prince Troilus, who had been admiring her from afar. When Cressida’s treacherous father, who has deserted to the Greeks, arranges for his daughter to join him in exchange for a Trojan prisoner, the emerging love affair is put under enormous strain. Can the love of Troilus and Cressida survive a difficult separation or will it join the other casualties of war?

Considered one of Shakespeare’s problem plays, Troilus And Cressida, which was written between 1600 and 1602, does not sit comfortably as a tragedy or comedy, history or satire.

Troilus And Cressida plays alongside Romeo And Juliet, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Frontline, Helen and A New World – A Life of Thomas Paine in Shakespeare’s Globe’s summer 2009 season.

For more about Troilus And Cressida at Shakespeare’s Globe, read the First Night Feature or the Big Interview with Matthew Dunster.