Coming- March 22nd 2019
The Living Odyssey 8
The 8th installment of The Living Odyssey will take up the story where Living Odyssey 7- Ithaca at Last– left off. Odysseus arrives back in Ithaca to find the Island stuck in a strange stasis- the suitors never quite winning Penelope, Telemachus never quite becoming a man, the old, conservative, loyalists never quite giving up hope of the king’s return. It is a harsh, rural small town world a far cry from the Phaeceans- a world of petty rivalries, jealousies, and drabness- of rutted roads, pigs, dogs, beggars, and meager meals on the one hand and empty monotonous merry-making on the other. A miasma hangs over life- people seem shallow, crude, cynical, and isolated from one another- no one- not even the suitors who live for pleasure- seem really to be having any fun. The dynamic is changed by the return of both Odysseus and Telemachus (himself newly back from his fact-finding mission in Pylos and Sparta and a near brush with death).
This performance will not start exactly where the previous one left off (at the end of book 13) but will focus on the story after Odysseus arrives back in his home disguised as a beggar. I am taking a new approach and allowing myself to edit out sections of text (while staying true to lines) to compress the story. Using this approach, I will stitch together parts of books 17, 18, 19 and the beginning of book 20 to tell a continuous, yet, two-part story. The story in the first half is one of struggle, insults, disguise, and plans for revenge. After the intermission, we will shift into something else- a battle of wits and a love story held just at bay- pervaded by the atmosphere of the sweet, full, sadness of happy memories long past… Yet clouds gather and the promise of violence and revenge remains.
The Living Odyssey is intended to have a slightly different shape at each new incarnation. Nevertheless, as previously done, I hope to bring in new and returning artists to perform pieces of their own or otherwise existing work as interludes to create a tapestry of interwoven stories that lie between our own time and the ancient epic. I aim for the indoor, evening show to run 2 and a half to 3 hours.
