A four hour re-telling, over two evenings, of the two mighty Homeric tales.
These
stories have a cast of characters whose shadows have stretched across the European
imagination for three thousand years: Helen, cursed by her beauty; Achilles, the
archetypal flawed hero; Cassandra, destined to see the future but to be believed
by no-one; Odysseus, the quick-witted survivor against all the odds……characters whose
destinies are driven by the all consuming force-fields of the Olympian Gods.
The Iliad.
The
story of the siege and fall of Troy is as contemporary now as it has ever been. It
is an extraordinary account of the testosterone-charged energy of war, with its savagery
and mad ecstasy. It explores questions of nationalism (one sides triumphant moments
of victory are another sides atrocities), of grief (Achilles’ mourning of Patroclus,
Priam’s mourning of Hector), of divine indifference, human frailty and the destructive
and redemptive faces of love.
The Odyssey.
The story of Odysseus’ ten year journey
from Troy describes the systematic stripping away of a hero’s wealth and warrior
bravado until, at last, he returns home ‘alone, unknown and under a strange sail’.
Buffeted by the Fates, helped by indomitable owl-eyed Athene, Odysseus’ voyage is
the journey of Everyman from the cock-sureness of youth into the wisdom of age, from
male ego into feminine mystery.
These compulsive performances, by two of Britain’s
leading storytellers, are true to the momentum of a rattling good tale, the wry humour
and poetic reflection, and the profound human observation of the Homeric vision.
They are aimed at an adult audience and are not suitable for anyone under twelve.
Each
performance lasts approximately two hours.
The Odyssey and the Iliad can be booked
separately (each is a performance in its own right) for a single evening, or together
over two consecutive evenings.
The fee for each performance is £750 plus travel and
accommodation.
The fee for both is £1400 plus travel and accommodation.
Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden are leading exponents of the art of storytelling. They have performed at many theatres and festivals over the last few years including The Barbican, The National Theatre, The Voice-Box, The British Museum, The Hay Festival, Oslo Storytelling Festival, Beyond the Border Festival, Symphony Space (New York) and the Bath Literature Festival.
What the Press have said:
“… I went to the Barbican the other day to listen to two of Britain’s finest storytellers – Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden – recounting the Iliad, the tale of that great quarrel from which all western literature springs. The seats were uncomfortable… but the hours flew by. These two men had to do no more than tap into the ancient power of the spoken word to hold an entire audience in their thrall. A veil of typescript fell from my eyes.
I saw Helen in all her intoxicating beauty standing amid the bloody chunks of a slaughtered stallion. I saw Achilles aglitter in gold armour before his black ranks of Myrmidons. I saw banquets and voyages, armies and oceans, battling heroes and ravening gods – all conjured out of thin air by a voice. Film is often thought to be a threat to literature. But the images that billowed and faded in that darkened auditorium were quite different from those that unspool across a screen. I could put my hands in front of my face and the pictures would not vanish. They were inside me. They belonged to me. They were part of the history of the whole of human life.” Rachel Campbell Johnson, The Times, March 2005.
“They seemed to become possessed by the stories. It was more intonation than recitation and swept away all bad memories of A-level set texts….”
Times Educational Supplement
“Resounding applause met the storytellers’ performance of Homer’s epic on Saturday….. With Hugh Lupton’s vivid narrative and Daniel Morden’s voice of Odysseus, we saw the warrior blind the one-eyed Cyclops, escape from his cave by clinging to the belly fleece of a ram, only to lose his entire crew in the depths of a whirlpool……. It was almost spine-chilling to hear this ancient tale related so brilliantly in the year 2000. Lupton and Morden make a slick team and act with both passion and a real knowledge of their material.”
The Bath Chronicle
“It is an ancient craft. And Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton follow in an honourable tradition that kept a packed house hanging on their words at this year’s Hay Festival. The story is a translucent account of the progress Everyman makes from the brash certainties of youth to maturity and understanding. There’s a poetic quality about the carefully modulated prose that probes man’s - and woman’s - frailties and strengths…. The storyteller subtly guides from feasting hall to bed chamber with a touch of eroticism. Storytelling is something apart from acting. There’s no set to distract the eye. The weavers of words are virtually on their own and to hold an audience as rapt as Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden were able to do tells of real talent.”
The Western Mail
“Wonderful stories….. romantic and fascinating.”
The Daily Telegraph
“If there’s one thing we associate with the Iliad, it’s Homer. Probably old, bearded and dressed in a scratchy robe. But had you been in a candle-lit room in Spitalfields on Monday night, you would have found two rather sexy blokes in black V-necks dealing a beautifully enunciated blow to your preconceptions not only about storytelling but about the genesis of the great narrative itself. In a two and a half hour performance Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden took the Iliad back to its roots and into the 21st century…The wedding party which sparks off the siege of Troy becomes an hilarious expose of human vanity and competitiveness, setting the bravado of the mortal male against the cool calculation of the goddess…but where Lupton and Morden really excel is in their remodelling of the famous battle scenes and the men who fight in them…Themes of warmongering, hubris and nationalistic fervour are, of course, particularly pertinent at this time…So, praise be to Morden and Lupton, who made the gods live in a project that is serious, moving and vital.”
The Times, October 2001.
