Two actors slobber away on cake, coca cola and hamburgers, while nubile attendants saturate them with ice cream and chocolate sauce. This is a scene from the Bolivian play La Odisea where the goddess Circe fattens up her conquests before turning them i
La Odisea
Teatro de los Andes
Maidment Theatre
Until March 12th
Two actors slobber away on cake, coca cola and hamburgers, while nubile attendants saturate them with ice cream and chocolate sauce. This is a scene from the Bolivian play La Odisea where the goddess Circe fattens up her conquests before turning them into pigs. It also symbolises the way American culture overwhelms the immigrant
In this retelling and reworking of Homers Odyssey a group of Bolivian actors use the mythic tale of Ulysses who wanders the world for twenty years as a metaphor for the diasporas of immigrants around the world although the emphasis is on those of the Americas.
The story is of both grand adventure as well as small personal steps, it is mythic in scale but set in the everyday.
The two parallel stories of Ulysses’ journeying to his homeland after the sack of Troy and a Bolivian immigrant travelling to the US and then returning are cleverly intertwined. Like the shroud that Penelope, Ulysses’ wife knitted to keep her suitors at bay so does the play weave various stories and themes together to make a universal history of the wanderer and the immigrant.
While generally following a linear line the company occasionally burst into dance and song with the play combining elements of the medieval mystery play, burlesque and Noh theatre..
There is strong emphasis on physicality with dance, martial arts and stylised symbolic sequences featuring throughout the work
The dialogue is brilliantly crafted, flowing between the various settings of the Ancient World and contemporary times including a some witty bickering between the gods including a Mafioso Zeus with his gold cellphone.
The actors inhabit the stage and their numerous characters effortlessly and the occasional references to New Zealand, Canterbury and rugby add a contemporary and relevant thread.
It is a work, which moves with its simplicity and honesty showing the power of great theatre and great acting.
The actors speak in Spanish but there are English surtitles.
