![]() In this chapter he does not get to play the hero but is depicted rather as a man wounded by a sudden, personal loss. Finally, this episode momentarily dulls the shine of Odysseus’s legend. It also makes the reader contemplate the experience of returning home from war, even today, and how domestic life can be altered and even devastated during an absence. Odysseus attempts to ignore his wife’s ghost: “He mastered his desire to seize her legs and kiss her thighs and hands for he knew she would turn to ash and shadow as soon as he touched her and moreover nothing is more disgraceful than to acknowledge the presence of the dead.” The story confounds all our expectations of the battle with the suitors and the happy reunion with Penelope. The truth dawns on him when they show him where Penelope was buried. He spots his wife, but she behaves strangely. But instead of suitors, Odysseus finds relatives in his hall, who are all thrilled to see him. He is initially angry, so one may reasonably presume that, as in the Odyssey, he has been warned that suitors have taken over his home and that his wife, Penelope, is using her famous ruse of weaving a funeral shroud for her father-in-law and unraveling it at night to put off the predatory men as long as possible. In Book 6, for example, entitled “Penelope’s Elegy,” Odysseus returns to Ithaca. The delight in reading Mason’s book comes from first recognizing the mythic characters and scenes and then following his new, unpredictable account. In an attempt to recreate the pre-Homeric experience, Mason imagines each of his forty-four chapters as an alternative version to the standard Homeric texts each presents a different version or perspective, sometimes conflicting, of the famous tales. Homer is remembered for having crafted these disparate stories into perhaps the world’s greatest epic poems. ![]() As the author points out in his preface, the Iliad and the Odyssey were born of an oral bardic tradition in which poets recounted competing versions of the same ancient events. The Lost Books of the Odyssey by first-time novelist Zachary Mason retells Odysseus’s voyage back to Ithaca from Troy, interwoven with flashbacks from the Trojan War. That production ran in repertory with Love Labor's Lost, which performed through August 27.The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason ![]() ![]() Penelope follows the festival's earlier staging of Henry V, which played May 31–August 21 starring Emily Ota in the title role. The piece has been in development for several years, including with the Founders' Club Residency within the Orchard Project. Daniel Kelly is music director, leading a five-person band from the piano. Steinmetz is directing the production, which features costume design by Rebecca Kanach, lighting design by Oona Curley, sound design by Palmer Hefferan, and orchestrations by Bechtel. Jo Fernandez is stage manager, and Buffy Cardoza is prop designer. The musical reimagines the ancient Greek story The Odyssey by telling it from the point-of-view of Penelope, Odysseus's wife. Saturday Night) stars as Penelope, with Christine Bokhour serving as understudy. Opening night is September 3, with performances continuing through September 17.īroadway's Tatiana Wechsler ( Mr. Penelope-a new musical with music and lyrics by Alex Bechtel and a book by Bechtel, The Great Comet star Grace McLean, and Eva Steinmetz-starts a world-premiere run at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison, New York, September 2.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |