UNRELEASED | YET TO PREMIERE

A multi-arts project utilising HipHop, spoken word, classical and electronic composition, film and the oratory tradition of human culture, ODYSSEUS takes the Ancient Greek text of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ and breaths fresh new meaning into words that were first composed and recited almost 3,000 years ago. The world today has arrived at an era of disparity and displacement on a scale never before seen. The journey of Odysseus, with his tumultuous ocean voyage, is geographically identical that of Syrian refugees arriving today on Greek islands to escape war. The battles faced on a daily basis by humans are equal to the Cyclopes and Sirens of the original story; one we’ve always thought of as a fairy-tale, but now dwarfed under the realities of current human stories of struggle and survival.

 

These parallels are highlighted and examined throughout ODYSSEUS, as film, physical movement and spoken word narrate the story of The Odyssey and the intertextuality examined through HipHop. The historical growth of HipHop from the United States to every corner of the Earth, has meant that a resurgence in rhyming and telling one’s own story to large crowds has found a new home in the culture of rap and spoken word as a direct need for story-telling in order to survive oppression. We at ODYSSEUS respect and gain much inspiration from this lineage of story-tellers, street artists and music makers as much as we do from The Odyssey itself.

 

We recognise that The Odyssey is now a global story of displacement full of localised experiences and are committed to using the mediums of film, dance, word and music to reignite passion, understanding and awareness around these issues.

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Six years in the making, the inception of the ODYSSEUS project started back in 2015, and since then has taken on a life of its own.

We are really excited, and oh so close to premiere!

For updates make sure you register here.

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