Review: Shotgun Players delights with modern take on 'The Odyssey'

George Heymont
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
My Cultural Landscape

Tracy's latest piece, The Salt Plays, Part 2: Of The Earth, is an adaptation of The Odyssey that tries to pick up where In The Wound left off. However, unlike the vast outdoor performing space he enjoyed at Berkeley's John Hinkel Park (where all of his furious drumming dissipated into the air), the Ashby Stage is an acoustically bright environment which amplifies Brendan West's drumming and sound design until it becomes overpowering.

Dan Bruno returns as Odysseus with Lexie Papedo weaving and unweaving her threads as Penelope and Daniel Petzold asTelemachus (who is trying to reach his father through any means possible, including a new invention called television).The nurses/goddesses from In The Wound (Charisse Loriaux as Aphrodite and Elena Wright as Athena) have been joined by a furious Poseidon (Anna Ishida), a bitter Zeus (Rami Margron) and her disillusioned wife, Hera (Emily Rosenthal). Rest assured that no one is particularly happy, least of all Odysseus.

In his work with Shotgun Players, Tracy has shown a great talent for achieving maximum dramatic impact with minimal physical resources. The depth and breadth of his imagination constantly amaze me (the way he depicts the Cyclops and the multi-headed monster Scylla are two low-budget coups de theatre). Aided by Nina Ball's stunning unit set, Lucas Krech's lighting, Lloyd Vance's videos, and Bridgette Loriaux's fierce choreography, Tracy delivers a riveting, heart pounding, blood pulsing (and potentially headache inducing) reenactment of Odysseus's struggle to return home to Ithaca.

Tracy's artistic vision wrestles with disturbing questions about the uselessness and repetitiveness of war. As an arms dealer is Odysseus any better than someone who is pushing heroin? Is it worth sacrificing a person's daughter (Iphigenia) to satisfy the Gods? Does any of this make sense?

The way Tracy has staged the production could lead to endless debates about whether the action was all happening in a bad nightmare, a psych ward, or a parallel universe. As Margo Channing once said, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." It's also one helluva ride (however you react to the production, I can guarantee that you won't be bored).