This was a deeply fun production by my local community theatre group. There was a big clock onstage, to which the players freely referred, breaking the fourth wall just a little bit in a fun way – there were also playful references to anachronisms. The Iliad, the Odyssey and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less (by Jay Hopkins and John Hunter) is an unserious but impressively thorough survey. This production went a little closer to 100 minutes, but still what a feat!
Just six actors split well over 100 parts between them. They generally talk very fast, and they make lightning-fast and near-constant costume changes to indicate character changes: you know the sort, just a pair of glasses or a hat or a scarf, or standing up on a box or sitting on a chair – the bare minimum prop to differientiate one part from another. Between the fire hose of information, the fast speech, and the constant part changes, there is obvious built-in humor, much of it written in and some of it (we assume) incidental. (My date and I did wonder about one or two moments when an actor might have been in error, or it might have been part of the script!) Such an undertaking requires a little patience and looseness from both audience and players, and that worked out fine here. It was absolutely silly but really extremely fun and very well done – I’m very impressed by the memorization alone, let alone all that delivery. I thought the writers and the players captured the spirit of the original myths (as I know them) well: it’s all a bit absurd and often silly itself, and as with Shakespeare, we sometimes take it a bit seriously just for its antiquity, beyond what serves.
A very impressive production by a small cast. I’ll have to look out for more from this tight little group!
pagesofjulia 
Leave a comment