About An Iliad:

 

An Iliad, by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, is a re-imagined telling of Homer's Iliad through the eyes and words of a single character known only as The Poet. The Poet has been telling the story of The Trojan War for almost 2800 years, all over the world, but doesn't know whether he can summon up, and survive, one more telling. Narrating the conflict between Homer's two epic warriors, Hector and Achilles, The Poet quotes extensively from the Robert Fagles translation of Homer but also speaks in his own contemporary idiom—struggling to remember the story he's told countless times and to make it real to a modern audience. Aided by the Muses, who finally answer his many pleas for help, The Poet launches into an intense, 90-minute tale of war, personal rage, decency, courage, and the intervention of utterly irrational gods in the affairs of humankind. He re-enacts the siege of Troy and the plague brought on by Agamemnon's hubris, the tragic death of Patroclus when he goes into battle wearing Achilles' armor, the climactic battle between Hector and Achilles, and finally the death of Hector. Again and again, The Poet calls up examples from contemporary life to drive home the point of his ancient story: "The point is, on all these [Greek] ships are boys from every small town in Ohio, from farmlands and fishing villages, the boys of Nebraska and South Dakota..." At one point, in his desperate attempt to remember a specific war that Hector's death reminds him of, The Poet reels off a list of over 200 of the wars fought in human history. An Iliad is a tour de force of memory, poetic recitation, and physical dramatization that will engage audience members even if they are not familiar with Homer's Iliad.

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For information about booking performances of An Iliad and/or tech requirements for the show: davidloar2003@yahoo.com