An Off the Wall 'Odyssey'

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Courtesy of Off the Wall Theatre

Jacqueline Roush as Penelope

Off the Wall Theatre stages an intimate look at one of literature’s greatest heroes as it presents a new adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Claudio Parrone Jr. carries a suitable level of gravitas in the role of the legendary King Odysseus on his way home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy. The intimate studio theatre space serves to bring the legendary hero into sharp focus as a tortured everyman trying to return to a life before war.

Dale Gutzman and John Angelos have done a respectable job of condensing a very long and winding story into something digestibly short. We see some of Odysseus’ struggle play out rather neatly in two hours’ time. What the production lacks in scope and sweeping immensity, it quite nearly makes-up for in interpersonal intensity. Jacqueline Roush cleverly plays on Odysseus’ turmoil from multiple angles as Penelope, Circe and Calypso. This is a clever use of a single actor. With almost no visual cues to differentiate one character from the other, we see the hero’s relationship to that which he desires reflected in drastically different personalities brought to the stage by a single actress.

Not everything is as powerful as it should be. There’s no menace in the Cyclops, which actually feels unintentionally comic in places. The Lotus-Eaters come across without much of any impression at all. There is much in the two hours that feels dead on the floor. The central conflict between Odysseus and his passions remains perfectly intact throughout the drama, however. Roush and Parrone Jr. are two good reasons to see this show.

Through April 12 at Off the Wall Theatre, 127 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-327-3552.