THUNDER BAY – The ancient tale of the Odyssey is being brought back to life with a modern flare, removing a little of the darkness of the original, while staying true to Homer’s epic poem.
It hits the stage this weekend at the Selkirk Auditorium, the feature presentation of the Eleanor Drury Children’s Theatre.
Director Aleksa Shermack said the decision was made last May to find a classic play to adapt and the story of Odysseus and his struggles to return home to his wife and son following the Trojan War, the gods intervening out of anger and love to help and hinder him along the way.
“We decided to write a family-friendly version of the Odyssey, which hasn’t really been done a lot in the past,” Shermack said.
“We wanted to do really classic theatre, but bringing it to a new space that all ages from very young to very old could enjoy.”
Founded in 1981, the Eleanor Drury Children’s Theatre’s current cast ranges from five to 17.
Shermack said she wanted to challenge the troupe, many of whom have been acting for the better part of a decade.
To stage the Odyssey, most of the 30-member cast must play multiple roles.
It wasn’t an easy adaptation to write.
“Homer’s Odyssey is an epic. It’s been around for eons. It’s one of those stories that people know, even if they don’t know it,” Shermack said.
“You’re going to come to the theatre and see some really well known characters and say, ‘Hey, I’ve heard about the Cyclops before or I’ve heard of the Sirens,’ but you didn’t know they came from the Odyssey. So it’s sort of a way to introduce characters that people actually already know in a story that people are actually familiar with, but throwing it back to the original.”
While staying true to the story, touches of modernity are thrown in. There’s a reference to Candy Crush midway through the performance, for example.
Shermack said they did their best to keep the story upbeat.
“The original Odyssey is quite dark and to make it appropriate we really had to take things and alter them. We wanted to keep the themes the same, but make them fun for everyone and make them not so scary and dark,” she said.
The troupe has been rehearsing since the end of September and gave themselves an extra month to prepare for this weekend’s performance.
Their version of the Odyssey will be staged four times, twice for school-aged audiences and twice for the public.
The public performances, at the Selkirk Auditorium at St. Patrick High School, are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31 and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1.
Tickets are $15 per person and are available online in advance.
