BWW Reviews: Off the Wall Presents Homer's Poetic Legacy in ODYSSEY: A WARRIOR'S JOURNEY HOME!

After two years ruminating in the imagination and in the writing, Artistic Director Dale Gutzman in collaboration with John Angelos adapted the classic Homer legacy in their production of ODYSSEY : A Warrior's Journey Home for Milwaukee audiences. The city's downtown, very intimate Off the Wall Theatre (OTWT), conjures magic from Gutzman and his actors, stage technicians and assistant directors who become heroic in their own right almost every production with merely four men: Gutzman, David Roper, Lawrence j. Lukasavage, and Jeremy C. Welter, and for this production, an additional Patrick McCann.

Claudio Parrone, Jr. accepts the daunting task of recreating the God-like mortal Odysseus, Homer's ancient hero from literature's "Iliad" and "The Odyssey." In the sequel to the "Iliad," the Trojan War hero Odysseus discovers himself stranded, naked and cold, on the shores of a far away coutnry. After being saved, he retells his incredible journeys to the king and his young daughter, on his soujourn over the past 20 years for his quest to arrive at his home shores in Ithaca.

There his wife, Penelope, played by an enchanting Jacqueline Roush, and his now grown son, Telemachus, acted by a beguiling Patrick McCann, head a cast of 16 actors who play multiple roles in this production. Except for Parrone, who spends every minute on stage, where his emotions embody Homer's "twisted and turned" man beleaguered by the Greek god's in an incredible emotional performance.

While Odysseus spins his tales of trials, Gutzman and Angelos probe the deepest questions of war and death, service to country, honor and the meaning of returning home after transforming circumstances. On this warrior's mythical journey, the definition and meaning attributed to hero resounds through the production. Often a hero so named because they kill their enemy, wear blood on their hands. Despite Odysseus's trials before he can return to Ithaca, deemed necessary by the Gods Zeus, a commanding Tairre Christopherson, and Athene, a regal Marann Curtis, these gods casually watch over his fate and finally intervene in his future.

What events wait for Odysseus when he returns to Ithaca? More bloodshed to win back his throne and Penelope's love with his son's assistance. His family besieged by suitors and traitors, who only wish to add to their own kingdom's, wealth, Telemachus participates in his father's overthrow and uncover's his own lust for the "thrill of the kill," an addictive high. The mature Odysseus knows that high in winning can be a complete myth, because as Zeus claims, "The truth can never be told in just one song."

Many songs, or themes, revel on this stage where a single serpentine neon light and fish nets hung from rustic boards transport the audience to the vast oceans and seas, the ships wheres Odysseus sails with his men. Long sticks become oars on the ship, while tiny pick up twigs rattle and reinvent Circe's spells that keep Odysseus away from Penelope for lustful nights in her arms. A marvelous Derek Lobacz recreates a fascinating Cyclops, while Welter gives Penelope's primary suitor Antinous an ominous, sophisticated edge.

Each actor contributes significantly to the bare bones budgeted, lyrical production that infers Japanese Kabuki theater techniques assuming a grand style while confronting questions older than Rome or Greece about youth dying for wars in contemporary society--War and the aftermath, which the production poses with the statement: "When a young man dies, hope dies with the future..what does it mean to win?"

With only a very short production run time, Odyssey needs to be experienced. Marvel at Perrone's physique and stage presence together with a captivating Roush, how Homer's epic story visually comes alive on stage to wrestle with the human condition. Odysseus laments about his journey "I saved my life with cunning, that has hardened my heart, the truth offers only pain and loss."

Hardened hearts, from heroes and mere mortal humans, follow in war's wake and the supposed wins--After all these centuries, because Homer's literary works are cited as some of the oldest known to man, how much has humanity changed or learned from their own journeys?

Perhaps modern society across the globe needs to revisit who they deem heroes and what constructs fame, concepts where lies sometime cross with the truth, where reality meets the omnipresent media, and question why do these bloody tragedies keep happening? Answer to one another who the true heroes, in corporate and personal lives might be, and who are "we" as humans habituating the same earth ultimately responsible for. Off the Wall's poetic, remarkable Odysseus touched with poignant humor reveals a hero, a man, Odysseus, who only asks to be taught how to love again. Teach me how to love again the warrior survivor says to his Penelope. A pleading request for heroic love the 21st centruy reveals to the world in sparse quantities and longs to still understand.

Off the Wall Theatre presents ODYSSEY: A Warrior's Journey Home at 127 East Wells through April 12. For information on their next production, Tennessee Williams's Camino Real, or season subscriptions for the 2015-2016 season, please call 414.484.8874 or www.offthewalltheatre.com

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