A disjointed ‘Odyssey' can't find its way home
'The Odyssey' stars Wayne T. Carr as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca; Andrus Nichols as Penelope, his wife and queen; Carlo Albán as Telemachus, their callow son; and Hamill herself as Circe, a sorceress.
Odysseus is heading home after the decade-long Trojan War — a journey that takes an additional 10 years, with sundry adventures along the way, including encounters with the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe, who turns Odysseus's band of not-so-merry men into pigs. Penelope, meanwhile, is waiting at home year after year, working on a tapestry of her husband, besieged by increasingly menacing suitors but growing in self-confidence.
Hamill made her reputation with witty, contemporized stage adaptations of 19th-century novels, including Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility,'
The stakes are infinitely higher in 'The Odyssey,' obviously, than maneuvering for a higher social position or fending off a bloodsucking vampire.
Andrus Nichols and Wayne T. Carr in "The Odyssey."
Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall
Hamill is more than capable of tackling weighty matters, but the marriage of her voice with Homer's voice just doesn't work. The strain shows in multiple ways, including the four-letter words Hamill has sprinkled throughout her script — often a sign of desperation in a writer. As to why she has a character in ancient Greece singing a tune to the melody of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,' your guess is as good — and probably better — than mine.
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In a program note, Hamill notes that her mission as a writer is to bring to literary classics 'a specifically feminist lens.' That's an invaluable perspective; if the experiences of women are ignored or muted, the story is incomplete.
And Hamill does indeed foreground Penelope, as well as Circe. If only the playwright had given them more interesting things to say. Too much of the dialogue is stilted or predictable. You can see some lines coming down Brattle Street.
When Odysseus's second-in-command Polites (Jason O'Connell) boasts: 'I have been a tool in the hands of the divine,' Circe retorts: 'You've been a tool, all right.' When Penelope remarks: 'The cock is crowing,' her young lover Amphinomus (Keshav Moodliar) responds with a grin: 'Oh, it is.'
In fairness, Hamill does land a few well-aimed blows, as when, speaking of Helen of Troy, Penelope says bitingly: 'Men will blame whatever gods they wish, in pursuit of their own wants.'
'The Odyssey' doesn't really achieve its other goal: to explore the lasting trauma of war and the possibilities of healing from psychological wounds.
Nichols does not quite seem at home in the role of Penelope, as if she's still trying to get a fix on her character (Albán, as Telemachus, seems engaged in a similar struggle). Odds are Nichols will figure it out as the run proceeds at the Loeb Drama Center. She's a talented actress who gave a memorably visceral performance in 2015 at the Central Square Theater as Joan of Arc in George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan.'
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Carr fares better as Odysseus. He's persuasive as a genuine man of action and a man of intellect, tormented by an awareness of his character flaws but more inclined to rue them than to fix them.
In sardonic prophecy, Odysseus predicts: 'We'll all become [expletive] poetry, you wait.'
And theater, too. And soon, film: It was announced this week that Cambridge's own Matt Damon will play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of Homer's poem, due for release next year.
THE ODYSSEY
Play by Kate Hamill. Based on the epic poem by Homer. Directed by Shana Cooper. Presented by American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through March 16. Tickets start at $35. 617-547-8300,
Don Aucoin can be reached at
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