Odyssee
© SLT / Christian Krautzberger

Odyssee

Homer / Nuran David Calis

Premiere: 28. September 2024 / Landestheater

Synopsis

“The Odyssey” is one of the oldest European epics and still enthralls audiences today. The figure of Odysseus lives for the hope that after his many adventures he will eventually come home. Fuelled by his own ambitions, Odysseus survives many blows of fate and never gives up.

In 24 chapters, Homer tells the story of the wanderings of Odysseus along antique routes that are still being used by modern travellers. Wherever he disembarks, Odysseus is a stranger: A lonely strategist, he is forced to choose between individuality and community. Nuran David Calis interprets the heroic figure from a contemporary perspective, thus turning the travels of Odysseus into an experience that suddenly seems oddly familiar.

Almost 3000 years after its creation, the Odyssey continues to fascinate each generation anew. The figure of the adventurer who is restlessly moving from place to place is a European myth that has as much current relevance as does the motif of returning to a place that has changed along with the people living there. “Who am I when I am travelling? And who will I be when I come home?” These timeless questions are still relevant to present-day adventurers and modern nomads, as they also need to assume responsibility in a social context. Seafarers have long tried to pinpoint the locations of the legendary Homeric travels and researchers have attempted to identify the routes based on the evidence of the original text – with the resulting courses extending to Africa and Sicily and, in more daring interpretations, even all the way to Greenland.

The most widely received epic of antiquity consists of 24 chapters and 12,110 verses in hexameter. The Greek poet Homer presumably lived about 2800 years ago. His two epic poems “Illiad” and “Odyssey” are among the oldest works in Western literature. Nuran David Calis complements his exploration of the “Odyssey” by adding his own texts about setting out, travelling and arriving.

Nuran David Calis is a director, writer and film-maker. In addition to his productions of classical theatre texts, he also stages re-narrations and is considered an expert for documentary theatre formats. At the Salzburg State Theatre, he has presented the documentary drama “#Ersthelfer #FirstAid” as well as Grillparzer’s “The Argonauts”.