Review: AN ILIAD at The Weston Playhouse Brings Weston Alive with Emotional Storytelling

On a cool summer evening in Weston, the tent at Walker Farm was lit with sights, sounds, and storytelling as The Weston Playhouse is back onstage with AN ILIAD. Written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, AN ILIAD is set as a (nearly) one-person show as a classic storyteller takes the stage to weave the long yarn based on Homer's classic poem. This performance taking place under the tent with minimal set design feels appropriate in that it was a callback to the past when storytellers sat down around a campfire to weave yarns late into the night. The wind and the rain of a Vermont summer evening brought this to life in an emotional performance that is a welcome return to the theater. Directed by Meredith McDonough, this performance utilizes the tent, the outdoors, and the socially distanced spacing of audience members to enhance the storytelling in a very effective way. It is a creative and emotional return to the theater.

The Weston Playhouse's portrayal of AN ILIAD features David Bonanno as The Poet. His portrayal is spellbinding as he weaves stories and emotion through 100 minutes of storytelling, captivating and pulling the audience into his performance from the very first moments of the show.

The Poet is an ageless character attempting to tell the story of the final weeks of the Trojan War to the audience, as he witnessed it over 3,000 years ago. The plight of this poet is not only in his need to tell this story but also in having the audience see why it is important, even now. The brilliance of this play is the humanity that it portrays, not just in the characters that the Poet embodies but also in the way it acknowledges and connects this story of war and sacrifice to present-day parallels. Bonanno effortlessly flows from an orator, to characters within the story, and back to The Poet himself and the toll that telling this story takes on him.

The Poet is supported by The Muses, a set of nine performers who bring tension with their silences and enhance the story with their movement, music, and song. As the story progresses, they move from vigilantly witnessing The Poet, to supporting key moments in the story with their movements, and back again. At one point, a Muse, played by Daelynn Jorif, breaks into a solo, and soon the whole company of Muses are partaking in a duet with The Poet. At another moment, the Muses bring forth industrial lights to both illuminate a tension-filled point in the storytelling as well as to illuminate the stage further as dusk sets in. This moment is both useful staging and what could be seen as a small nod to similar use of lights in another Greek myth-based play, HADESTOWN (which has its own Vermont roots).

For audience members who have not read the Iliad or are unfamiliar with the story of The Trojan War, Achilles, Paris, Helen, Agamemnon, or Hector and the Greek Gods, the storytelling of this performance will be something that can easily be followed through the captivating performance by Bonanno. Still, if you are looking for a fuller understanding of the story, a brush up on the characters and the events around this before a night out to see AN ILIAD will deepen the understanding and emotion behind this Weston Playhouse presentation.

Overall, this is a welcome return to in-person performances in Vermont and an emotional and fresh portrayal of a long-told story. As Weston Playhouse's Executive Artistic Director, Susanna Gellert, acknowledged at the start of the show, this is the first return to the theater for many audience members since March 2020. It is good to be back.

Photo Credit: The Weston Playhouse

To post a comment, you must register and login.