Erin Harrington reviews the Anthony Harper summer season of The Odyssey, staged by Noosed Octopus at the Botanic Gardens, and directed by Dan Bain, based on the epic poem Odyssey by the ancient Greek poet Homer, Thursday 25 January, 2024.
The Christchurch City Council’s summer theatre productions are a welcome way to mark the end of a languid summer and the transition back to work and school. This year’s offering, staged on the Weather Station Lawn, is a comic romp through Homer’s Odyssey that will satisfy Classics nerds and newbies alike. Writer-director Dan Bain’s script condenses many books’ worth of epic poetry into a brisk, well-pitched three hander – a Homeric greatest hits. It balances character comedy, action, wordplay, and some occasional naughties for the adults. The episodic nature of the source material offers good scaffolding for recurring gags.
The show’s frame of invocations brings us into the world of story, as the Gods – Zeus, Athena, Poseidon – look out over heroic, crafty Odysseus after the sack of Troy, bartering over his fate. Odysseus may sail home to Ithaca across the wine-dark sea, to his son Telemachus and ever faithful wife Penelope, but it’s going to be a bloody long journey as he’s repeatedly driven off course. There will be many perils, mysterious islands, and tempting diversions, and it will result in the death of all his crewmates (noted in a nicely presented death tally). A battle in which the audience stand in for those trying to woo Penelope in Odysseus’ absence offers a final flourish.
Dan Allan plays Odysseus as a cheerful, cavalier and occasionally oblivious matinee idol, all power poses and bold ideas. Donna Brookbanks and Millie Hanford play dozens of other characters between them, flicking ably, and sometimes unexpectedly, between broad accents and physical characterisations. The action is presented in a cartoonish, panto-adjacent manner that keeps the action family friendly, although the littlest of kids might need a cuddle at the neat appearance of huge cyclops Polyphemous, complete with moving lips and giant reaching hand.
Chris Reddington’s lovely blue and orange set evokes the prow of a ship, city battlements, beaches, and crashing waves, while also providing some useful tricks and hidey holes. Simple costuming and a wide array of comedy hats and props help demarcate action and character. Sound design fleshes out the environments, and sets up some good aural gags. Careful use of levels helps keep the action legible, except perhaps for the very end, as Odysseus summarises his adventures and Hanford and Brookbanks re-enact the show’s beats rapidly from a trapdoor.
Some highlights, among a show filled with treats: Donna Brookbanks’ characterisation of witch Circe as long-suffering New Jersey housewife; Odysseus’s impassioned monologue on leadership strategies, packed to the gunwales with LinkedIn management KPI bullshit, despite him just having lost the majority of his fleet; Millie Hanford’s ridiculous, prancing wind wizard Aeolus and giggling soldier Psychopathicus; the great octopus hat Allan wears as Poseidon; a litany of absurd character names, straight from the Asterix pun playbook; an unexpected song and dance number from a sea monster; a very accidental running gag involving a broken prop. There’s always an element of randomness to open air comedies, and it speaks well to the cast that despite the occasional flicker in pace it’s not always easy to tell where the planned chaos ends, and the unplanned chaos begins.
The night I attend is unexpectedly windy and cool, after a series of scorching days that resulted in a couple of health and safety related cancellations. Aggressive gusts of wind fill the set’s sail; it feels appropriate to be a little blasted by the elements. I’m sat in the front with snacks and friends and wine – a good place to get interactive, boo, hiss, cheer – and I’d recommend getting close if you can, although the seating is well filled out almost 45 minutes before the show starts as people arrive with picnics. I compare notes with others after; down the back the action and physical comedy translates more strongly than some of the script, which is perhaps a baked in challenge of outdoor works. Also, there are ducks and ducklings (a bonus worth noting).
All up I have a terrific time, and the audience around me are upbeat and happy. I appreciate the show’s balance of wit and ridiculousness, and its interactive nature. It’s bloody great to just sit your butt and trust you’ll be entertained for two hours. Perhaps this script, or the production proper, can be picked up elsewhere, too? It would be good to take others along for the journey.
The Odyssey runs from 11 – 28 January 2024. Koha appreciated.
Flat City Field Notes 