ODC, after Home’s Odyssey
Ten year long research and different shows based on Homer's Odyssey | Princeton University |
"Totally mad and mesmerizing...", THE GUARDIAN
Texts
About
This performance is built upon the interplay of three elements: Homer’s Odyssey, the performer’s free associations and the music improvisation. The director here on stage conducts the musicians and the performance and spins an ad hoc dramaturgy the ‘seams’ of which are visible to the audience. The audience has the chance to choose the Book of the Odyssey to be performed while being part of a real symposium, where they eat and drink.
Music and speech are woven together in a single narrative. The performer’s body vibrates, pushed to unprecedented directions, forced to maximise the smallest structural unit of language—word, syllable, phoneme—going against the flow of rhythm, eschewing the production of meaning for what is left unspoken.
Co-produced by
Edinburgh Festival, Opera of Cairo, Biblioteca Alexandrina Inauguration ceremony, Princeton University
Credits
2002
Translation: Robert Fagles
Concept + Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Performers: Laura Plitt (dancer/performer), Panagiotis Pierakos (musician/singer), Stathis Mermigis, Irini Tiniakou, Cherryl Pickerton, Marissa Triantafillidou, Dimitris Kamarotos
Music Composition: Dimitris Kamarotos
Designer + Video Arstist: Sofia Lycouris
2009
Concept + Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Translation: Dimitris Maronitis
Performers: Aglaia Pappa
Musicians on Stage: Tilemachos Mousas (electric guitar, theremin, berimbao, jaws harp, calimba, efx-lo-ops), Nikos Giousef (musical saw), Alejandro Gomez Gutierrez (flamenco guitar-palmas), Satnam Ghai (tablas), Nathan Pisoort (overtone singing-didgeridoo)
Music Composition: Tilemachos Mousas
Sound Engineer: Takis Kororos
Assistant to Director: Agapi Kousteni
Production Manager: Anastasia Chrysanthakopoulou
Dates
Gallery: ODC, after Home’s Odyssey
Reviews
Dimitris N. Maronitis, To Vima | 30.08.2009
A positively theatrical experience, which I wholeheartedly recommend…
This explosive, epic mixture, which simultaneously evokes horror and hilarity, revulsion and sympathy, finds an apt scenic transformation in this specific performance: the inventive direction of Elli Papakonstantinou, the narrative verve of Aglaia Pappa, the musical euphoria of Tilemachos Moussas, the exotic musical saw of Nikos Giousef, and the expressive guitar and singing of Alejandro Chiacon serve an ensemble production with gusto and integrity.
Dimitris Papanikolaou | BBC Worldwide | 30.08.2002
An outstanding performance with a truly interesting and refreshing approach to the ancient Greek text challenging Homer’s work with elements of minimal, rock and rap music. Here we see a DJ in the part of a rapsodos (ancient storyteller) […]
cultureguide.com | The Hellenic Ministry of Culture | 10.2002
A mixture of theatre and music, a show that cannot be unnoticed…
[…] A surreal fairytale, a new truly interesting approach to the ancient Greek text… The DJ transports the audience to the dark side! An insane Picasso-esque world […]
Dr Dre writing for The List | The Pitch | 01-08.08.2002
Greek gods getting jiggy in da club…
[…] The Prognosis: Now this ain’t strictly hip hop but it ain’t no Homer Simpson neither. Here the DJ is king and he’s casting up some seriously heavy cats: the Cyclops, the ram and all the while Odysseus is just trying to get back to his crib
The Guardian | The Guide | 15.08.2002
Totally mad and mesmerizing.
Philippa Snell | Three Weeks | 08.08.2002
Fascinating, multi-media cubist experience performed with inspired confidence…
[…] These guys are so cool you just want to hang out in the underworld with them […]
Kristin Annexstad | Fest | 07.08.2002
Thrill: great use of trance-inspired sound…
[…] An eccentric rendition of Homer’s classic Odyssey…an enthralling, sensual fairytale…an adventurous and avant-garde way presentation […]
Ta Nea | 21.10.2002
[…] Based on the original ancient Greek text… a palimpsest of language-English, German, Spanish. The human voice fused with the instruments and the electronic mediums contribute to this incomparable timbre […]
Eleftherotypia | Fest | 13.10.2002
[…] Elli Papakonstantinou and Dimitris Kamarotos on a hazardous avant-garde trip with a variety of languages and kinds of music…between the bounds of the expressionist contemporary music and the electronic set of pop music […]