ITP stages ambitious Iliad production

SWORD PLAY--The Greek King Menelaus (right, played by Neil Ghushe '01) threatens a Trojan soldier (graduate student Christopher Sweeney, left) as King Agamemnon (center, Tucker Ruderman '03) tries to restrain him in the International Theatre Program production of The Iliad.

In one of its most ambitious projects ever, ITP is presenting the world premiere of a unique event: the dramatic adaptation of The Iliad, based on an award-winning translation by Robert Fagles, considered one of the most acclaimed classicists and translators of the Greek poet Homer.

The nearly five-hour production will be performed in two parts, each presented on alternate evenings beginning Thursday, April 13, in Todd Union's Todd Theater on the River Campus. On selected weekends, both parts will be presented back-to-back, with an extended dinner break between Parts 1 and 2. In addition, Fagles, who teaches at Princeton University, will be at the Saturday, April 22, performances and will be available for audience questions.

The Iliad recounts events toward the end of the 10-year Trojan War, which pitted Greek forces against the city of Troy. The epic focuses on the anger of the Greek warrior Achilles over an indignity put upon him by one of the Greek kings and the tragic consequences of that anger.

"The Iliad has held up for almost three millennia because, at root, the themes and images continue to be modern and contemporary," said Nigel Maister, the ITP associate director who conceived the idea and adapted it for the stage. "It's much more than just a war story. It deals with universal emotions--love, betrayal, courage, defeat, fear--and how those are expressed. On a fundamental level, it's about parents and their children, especially the relationships between fathers and sons. It's a rich, extraordinary story."

Maister, the director and the set designer for the production, will use video, slides, music, movement, and three-dimensional and moving puppetry to depict the story. The Iliad's wide scope moves from the Greek camp to the seat of the gods on Mount Olympus to the plains around Troy and inside Troy itself.

For more information on performances and tickets, see the Currents calendar in this issue and the next issue.

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