An Odyssey

Taking the kids to a play has been on my list for a long time, but the pandemic put a damper on this for the last year and a half. Last week, I saw an ad for a production of the Odyssey that was being performed outside. My kids are all very familiar with the story, so I decided to take a chance and bought tickets for all of us to go. It rained all week here, but the skies cleared on the afternoon of the play. We took a picnic dinner to the park and watched a beautiful sunset right before the play started. This version of the Odyssey was told from the perspective of the female characters, and Odysseus was not really portrayed as the hero he usually is. They performed on an ice skating rink and the audience sat on bleachers for a slightly elevated view. There was no intermission and it was almost two hours long, with the final scene involving the entire cast and audience leaving the rink and hiking up a hill to see Odysseus reunite with Penelope. It was amazing! The kids followed every word closely, leaning forward in their seats and laughing and clapping along with the audience. All three kids know the stories from the Iliad and Odyssey pretty well, as well as Greek Mythology in general, so they were well positioned to understand an alternative perspective on the story. I didn't really know anything about the company, Quantum Theatre, but they are known for their progressive story-telling and using unusual spaces for performances. 

To prepare for the play, we read the playbill, which was available as a digital copy before the performance. We looked at the photos of the cast and the characters they were playing, read some reviews of the play and discussed appropriate theater behavior. We did our best to round up some slightly fancier-than-usual clothes, and fixed our hair (helped tremendously by fresh haircuts from Julie). 

In terms of Covid safety, they did say that all cast members were all vaccinated and that unvaccinated people should wear masks. The seats were movable and we were encouraged to "pod" up our seats by moving them closer together and leaving space between parties. The whole thing was outside. 

I could not have asked for better circumstances for a first theater experience, and I'm truly looking forward to going again.