Jutting out in a catwalk-esque shape, the stage of the Odyssey provided an intimate viewing experience. Audience members clustered around the platform only two or three meters away from actors, and hulking red curtains swathed the whole area in a dark, velvet cube. Dramatic colours — stark blacks and oozing reds — were offset by the pastel homogeneity of the actors’ baby blue uniforms.

Throughout the hour and 45 minute production directed by Associate Professor of Theater Rubén Polendo, actors leaped, crawled and sprinted across the stage, using body movement and props to depict the treacherous oceans and sinister islands that Odysseus and his men encountered throughout the play.

The production team’s creativity was apparent through its choice in props, most of which were everyday household items that conveyed elements of the play through their symbolic meanings. A plastic hair dryer represented the windy elements of sea travel. A dangerous wound became, instead, a slash of red Sharpie ink on a leg. And Odysseus’ evil Cyclops morphed into the unblinking eye of a blinding spotlight.

Each member of the cast adopted several roles throughout the play. Freshman Théo Ntawiheba went from sailor to child and freshman Jules Bello from goddess to monster, along with other cast members who constantly shifted through a mélange of different roles.

Modernizing an age-old epic such as “The Odyssey” was a risky move, but many audience members responded with positive enthusiasm.

“After having seen it twice, I can say that it was wonderful,”said junior Stephen Underwood. “To be true to the original, to stay faithful to its essence and to capture the greater societal impact was no easy feat, but Rubén and his company of students did just that. Telling a story through children that is traditionally for children was a delightful thought, though there were moments where it did not work as well as intentioned. Lost from the original is the sense of time. When you read a good translation, you feel those ten years of Odysseus's time at sea far more viscerally that in this adaptation. Of course, this might be a consequence of the very nature of theatre.”

Much of the cast took on emotional roles with moving monologues and lines. Freshman Tessa Ayson thought that seeing her friends and classmates acting in these powerful scenes was a valuable experience.

“It was incredibly meaningful to see fellow students performing,” said Ayson. “The powerful sense of journeying and being home was an especially relevant theme for most of us. The play itself was a perfect mixture of poignant and comedic material and was certainly never predictable. It was a privilege to finally see the result of so many hours of hard work.”