Guest Blog: National Theatre's Niamh Hunt on the Ambition of Public Acts, Community Theatres and New Show, THE ODYSSEY

This year marks five years since Public Acts was founded to create 'extraordinary acts of theatre and community'. Its first show, Pericles, played in the Olivier in 2018; a joyous and affirming production, written by Chris Bush with music by Jim Fortune.

Since then, The National Theatre's nationwide programme, which collaborates with local community organisations and artists, has visited Queen's Theatre Hornchurch with a production of As You Like It and Doncaster with a version of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Even the pandemic didn't slow down this vital community engagement programme: the postponement of Doncastrian Chalk Circle in 2020 led to Doncaster's Public Acts community creating their own cabaret, The Magic of Wild Heather.

But over the past few months Public Acts has been taking on its most ambitious and far-reaching project to date: a nationwide re-imagining of The Odyssey. The journey of Odysseus tells a universal story of endurance, loss, healing and of finding a way forwards together. Created in collaboration with hundreds of community members and professional artists across the country, this landmark project will create an unforgettable gesture of unity, creativity and radical joy.

Over the course of the project, Public Acts has worked in collaboration with four partners across the country to bring this story to life: Restoke in Stoke-on-Trent (episode one: The Lotus Eaters), CAST in Doncaster (episode two: The Cyclops), Trowbridge Town Hall in Trowbridge (episode three: The Four Winds) and Sunderland Culture & Empire in Sunderland (episode four: The Island of the Sun).

The Odyssey will be told in five unique episodes. Episodes one to four will be created by and performed at our partner organisations, starting in April. A local writer from each partner location has adapted an episode of Odysseus' journey, putting their own spin on Homer's classic, helping to ensure an authentic and representative tale for their area.

Episode five: The Underworld, will be performed as a full-scale musical on the Olivier stage over the August bank holiday weekend at The National Theatre and will feature community performers from all four partner venues, plus members recruited through our founding community partners, our founding theatre partner Queen's Theatre Hornchurch and one new partner, Trybe House Theatre in London. Episode five will also feature six professional actors, six live musicians and three cameo groups (community performance groups representing a specific cultural art form) from across the UK.

Part of the magic of Public Acts has always been the way it brings communities together - many of whom may not have visited a theatre before, let alone performed on stage. As such, it is important that each episode in The Odyssey is representative of the community telling it. In the midst of rehearsals, one member of the Sunderland community company reflected on their process for The Island of the Sun (episode four), 'We've come together really well as a company and it's amazing to see the progress in just a few rehearsals. There's a huge amount of talent in the group and it's great for Sunderland, as a city by the sea, to be part of this national project.'

The venues for The Odyssey have their own magic too and each one is at the heart of community engagement in its local area. Restoke has created a community hub in a restored ballroom in a former town hall, and Cast in Doncaster is a creative focal point for local and regional artists; Trowbridge Town Hall has a long association of supporting local arts groups and community projects, and The Fire Station is a live music and performance space created in Sunderland's 1908 Central Fire Station.

Although each episode is made with local audiences in mind, Chris Bush, who is writing episode five, The Underworld, has been dramaturg across the whole project. For Bush, the most important ingredient for the success of the project is, "creative collaboration, and enabling people to tell stories in a way that is inherently truthful to them and the place they find themselves in".

As part of this epic nationwide journey, a ten-metre ship called The Galley, will visit each venue. The boat will travel to its next destination after each tale is told and appear in public places to gather messages from the living for lost loved ones. These messages will be exhibited alongside the ship itself outside The National Theatre in August. Crafted from bamboo and other sustainable materials, The Galley represents Odysseus' voyage, its themes of resilience and remembrance, and provides a powerful symbolic link between each community and each story.

Ultimately, this ambitious production of The Odyssey is, in its manifold forms, a joyful celebration of the strength and healing that can be found in community. Each week, the companies, like Odysseus, have gathered and journeyed together, guided by the values of openness, generosity and bravery.

Lines have been learned, movement sequences mastered, food shared, stories swapped, connections made and friendships forged. In the spirit of xenia - the ancient Greek word for 'guest friendship' and a central theme of the story - each community has welcomed one another with open arms, starting as strangers and growing into friends and collaborators.

There have been weekend beach walks, all day macarena dance rehearsals, online Zoom gatherings with people connecting from their homes on opposite sides of the country. Each community has displayed a determination and force of spirit that would certainly make Odysseus, the most resilient of heroes, proud.

Niamh Hunt is the Administrator for Public Acts and a writer.

Follow Odysseus' voyage:

Episode three: The Four Winds (22-23 April) will be performed at Trowbridge Town Hall and was written by Florence Espeut-Nickless. Episode four: The Island of the Sun (29-30 April) will take place at The Fire Station Sunderland and was written by Lindsay Rodden. Episode five: The Underworld (26-28 August) will be performed in the Olivier, National Theatre and has been written by Chris Bush, with music by Jim Fortune.

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