Homer is having a moment. The 8th-century B.C. poet is getting the Hollywood treatment this summer with a blockbuster version of "The Odyssey," directed by Oscar-winning Christopher Nolan. This month, Arkansas Classical Theatre will offer two productions inspired by Homer, both one-actor plays with live music accompaniment. Betsy Jilka and Steven Marzolf are the actors on stage for "Penelope" and "An Iliad," respectively. Marzolf says the productions are an avenue to see classic works through new lenses.
Kellams: Tell us about "An Iliad."
Marzolf: So "An Iliad" is based on Homer's "The Iliad," which of course is the story of the Trojan War. But "An Iliad" is not a complete retelling of the Iliad. It came right after the United States invaded Iraq back in 2003, and Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare were very upset, taken with that. And so they started talking about doing a play about war.
And Denis O'Hare, he's like a scholar of the Trojan War. So they just started riffing back and forth. And part of what's interesting about the play is that when they originally did it, when they were talking about it, they actually had video cameras on each other. And Lisa Peterson would be like, Dennis, just riff about Patroclus or riff about Achilles. And he'd be like, oh, Patrick! Like, oh, Achilles. And so that's in the script.
So it goes between Robert Fagles' translation of the Iliad, which is a very famous translation. And then out of that, the character that I play called the poet, he's very conversational and it seems very ad libbed, improvisational. A lot of the text is, I, I, I, that kind of thing. And then goes into the story of the Trojan War, basically from where Achilles and Hector were, their meeting. It's one person, one person show. And there is a cello player that is going to be underscoring it, creating sound effects like a Foley sort of feel to it.
Kellams: And "Penelope"?
Jilka: So "Penelope" is a modern take on the Odyssey, but really, what happened to Penelope after she's been waiting for Odysseus for 20 years? And it's more told from this faithful wife's perspective. And what does it feel like to have to sit around and wait and keep that hope alive, and also be pursued by suitors that have destroyed her house, and her son also goes off, Telemachus, to try to find his father.
And so she's sort of left there with the servants and the suitors, and it's her cry for help and hope. And this sort of takes it through like a day in the life of Penelope, and how would this day be different than any other day where she's been weaving and praying and taking care of her son and ruling the city. And she goes into her imagination, and it's a really beautiful combination of all these different songs. So it's a musical. It's a one woman musical with a five-piece chamber orchestra or five-piece band. And so there is piano and percussion and violin, viola and cello.
Kellams: What is it about these millennia-old stories that still resonate?
Marzolf: It's kind of like Shakespeare in some ways. In some ways it reveals the human condition. The thing that I find interesting about the Iliad is that it's not really pro or anti-war. It's just like, this is war. These are the things that people gain from it. And these are the incredible losses that people have. The Iliad doesn't really, it kind of does have a side. It really talks about the rage aspect, why we as human beings continue to do this, which I think is why these plays are still popular, because you take a play like "An Iliad," or based on the Iliad, and it's a play about war, and we're in the middle of one right now, and it is something that's been going on for 2,500 years.
There's actually one part in the play towards the end where I start listing, it's 148 wars that have happened since the Peloponnesian War, which is what the Trojan Women, a very famous play, is based on. And so it goes from there all the way up to, they have a little note at the end of it that they say, add in the wars that are happening now. So it ends up being a list of 148 wars that I go through. Peloponnesian War, war of Alexander the Great, Punic War, Gallic War, and just on and on for five pages.
And I think that's why this play resonates so well, because we're in war time and we always are. And why do we as human beings continue to do this? And the play's argument is that it's rage that causes it.
Jilka: And in mine, well, the Odyssey itself is mostly about Odysseus, right, and his journey. And there's so much fantasy. He keeps trying to get back home and he can't. And he gets stuck with the Cyclops and stuck with the sirens. So it's all about his journey. But in mine, it's the perspective of, well, what happens to Penelope, and what is she doing while he's waiting? And she is supposed to be like the quintessential faithful wife of Greek literature. So it's really from a woman's perspective, what does that feel like to have to be waiting for so long.
Kellams: A woman's perspective is not something we usually associate with Homer, right? I mean, the sirens, they're either objects or nefarious, goddesses. So I'm eager to hear Penelope, who's a mortal woman, who doesn't get represented that much in these classic stories.
Jilka: And she's trying to do everything right. She's begging Athena, every day she's praying, she's sacrificing animals. What else do I need to do? She's weaving, she's trying her best. She has this conniving weaving thing that she does where she says, I'll pick one of you suitors to marry, I'll let go of my husband as soon as I'm finished with my weaving. And then she just undoes her weaving every night. So she kind of makes this ruse that keeps them at bay. And she's at a point where she's just like, I'm tired of this. I'm actually tired of faith. What else is there? How can I find the answer? And part of that is breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience and trying to get the help from them and trying to get the help from the musicians, who become sort of her muses. So yeah, it's really interesting.
Kellams: TheatreSquared will be the home for these productions?
Marzolf: That's right. We're doing it in Spring Theatre at TheatreSquared. And what's really unique about these shows we're doing is they're in rotating rep. So my show will open one night, and then we completely transform the space for "Penelope," and then go back and forth.
Kellams: For people who haven't read the Iliad or the Odyssey in a while, is that OK?
Jilka: It's okay. I read the Odyssey in high school, and I've tried to pick it up again, and I'm reading little parts of it here and there, but I do have some, I even have one song called "Drunk Iliad," which is funny, where I give some exposition for people who don't know anything about the story and who I am. So I think people can come in not knowing really anything. As far as coming into "Penelope" and the Odyssey.
Marzolf: I would say the same for "An Iliad," because it does go into aspects of the Trojan War, but so much of it is conversational. And there are times where the poet, who I play, pulls out of the Trojan War and says, OK, how can I make you understand this? And there's one moment where he's talking about Patroclus. He's full of rage and he's killing people. And he pulls out of it and he goes, you know what it's like to get cut off in traffic and how you're so rageful, because that's what Patroclus is going through. So he gives these analogies and examples of modern times, of how we feel as humans and how it relates to the characters in the Trojan War.
Steven Marzolf and Betsy Jilka will be the actors in the one-actor productions "An Iliad" and "Penelope." Arkansas Classical Theatre will present them in repertory in the Spring Theatre at TheatreSquared, July 16-19 and again July 22-24. Further details, including showtimes, are at ArkansasClassicaltheatre.com. Our conversation took place Tuesday.
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