The Odyssey (2005)

Odysseus, a man and a king, finds himself alone and scarred in the ruins of Troy, the great city he helped destroy. For the first time in ten years, he can turn his thoughts to home. Home…a place of sweet remembrance and soft embraces. So begins the primal story of returning, an ancient tale from the dawn of the West and the journey of every one of us to find a meaningful life and thereby defy death.

This production is a modern retelling of Homer's ancient tale which focuses on Odysseus, a man who must journey through death in order to reach life and eventually home. The various islands that Odysseus and his crew visit are conceived as distant images, tied together by a parallel reading that traces the story as a return to the south coast of Western Australia from the First World War. The action traverses the brutality of war, the seduction of oblivion and a home threatened by chaos.

Performed at the Perth International Arts Festival, 15 February - 2 March, 2006.