info

within the Odysea Europe project
translated into German by Olaf Kühl

set design and costumes Magdalena Maciejewska
lighting design Jacqueline Sobiszewski
music Jacek Grudzień, Piotr Domiński, Andy Manndorff
video Bartek Macias
dramaturgy Rita Czapka

cast: Marcin Czarnik, Andreas Grothgar, Jürgen Hartmann, Katarzyna Herman, Sandra Korzeniak, Raiko Küster, Georg Marin, Dietrich Mattausch, Jan Peszek, Kristina-Maria Peters, Krunoslav Šebrek, Stephan Ullrich

No matter how long you travel, how long you have been away from home and how strong your belief is that you have become a different person, when you finally come back home you feel as if you have never been away; the same old questions to be answered and the same old wounds to be healed. At Schauspiel Essen, Grzegorz Jarzyna directs an unusual version of the first part of “Odyssey”. Odysseus is confronted with his father and son. What do they know about each other? What are their mutual expectations? The three men struggle with the omnipotent shadows of the other ones. Gods, played by three Polish actors, do not have much to say in the situation; for their own sake, they can only attempt to resort to their godly humor and immense knowledge. Their time is up.

Within the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 project, six theaters from the area of Ruhr: Schauspielhaus Bochum, Schauspiel Dortmund, Schauspiel Essen, Schlosstheater Moers, Theater an der Ruhr and Theater Oberhausen carry out a project called Odyssey Europe whose aim is to tell the story of Homer’s Odyssey anew.
The authors from six European cities have been asked to participate in the project. Beside Grzegorz Jarzyna, the following artists have been invited: Péter Nádas (Budapest), Emine Sevgi Özdamar (Istanbul), Christoph Ransmayr (Vienna), Roland Schimmelpfennig (Berlin) and Enda Walsh (London). They have prepared texts which are to present our continent as well as us, the Eurpeans, and our culture within the Odysey Europe project in an unexpected perspective. Grzegorz Jarzyna is the only playwright who directs his own play to be staged within the project.

Odyssey is much more than one of the oldest texts of western culture. It is an adventure story, a heroic epos, a love story and a family drama in one. Six authors from Poland, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Germany and Turkey allow Homeric characters to present themselves in an amazing contemporary world. Odysseus on his way home is an adventurer, a symbol of contemporary Europeans who, faced with the Stranger, must answer for themselves some questions about identity and future.

During five weekends, the performances shall be combined in one huge story showed in the form of a theater marathon where the audience shall be invited by raumlaborberlin to set off upon a journey to six cities in the Industrial Ruhr Area.

Areteia has been produced by Schauspiel Essen in co-operation with TR Warszawa.

First night of the Odyssey Europe project: 27/28 February 2010
Other performances: 6/7 March, 13/14 ,March , 2/3 April and 22/23 May.

First day:

Schauspiel Essen: Areteia
text and direction: Grzegorz Jarzyna

Schauspielhaus Bochum: Der elfte Gesang [Song Eleven]
text: Roland Schimmelpfennig, director: Lisa Nielebock

Theater Oberhausen: Penelope
text: Enda Walsh, director: Tilman Knabe

Second day:

Theater an der Ruhr: Sirenengesang [The Mermaid Song]
text: Péter Nádas, director: Roberto Ciulli

Schlosstheater Moers: Perikızı
text: Emine Sevgi Özdamar, director Ulrich Greb

Schauspiel Dortmund: Odysseus, Verbrecher. Schauspiel einer Heimkehr [Odysseus, the Criminal Returning Home]
text: Christoph Ransmayer, director: Michael Gruner