Homer’s Odyssey
Unity Theatre, Liverpool
April 21 2010-04-22
10/10
How one actor can sustain an intense one-hour performance alone is an amazing feat, but George Mann does with mesmerising brilliance.
The audience is enthralled with his interpretation of Homer’s Odyssey telling and showing us Odysseus’ action-packed journey back home to Ithaca after 20 years, following the Trojan wars.
We see Mann, directed by Nir Paldi, with incredible energy and innovation act out the journey where he is up against the God Poseidon and his hurricanes; nymphs that sexually enslave him; countless characters, creatures and a ferocious one-eyed monster.
He uses all his body to parody each character with astounding results. And the strange sounds that emanate from his mouth, biff, baff, boffs, shushes and squeals, woven through the captivating dialogue, make you forget there is just one actor on stage. Mann IS all these characters, Poseidon, Athena, Calypso, Penelope, Cyclops, as well as the great Greek warrior himself.
Brought to the Unity by the company Ad Infinitum, the show was voted ‘best of the fringe 2009’ by the Observer. George Mann is a practitioner, actor, writer and director. He completed a two year course at the École Internationale de Théatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris 2006 and graduated from Royal Holloway University of London with a degree in Theatre Studies in 2004. George formed theatre Ad Infinitum in London in 2006
In this latest production it is staggering he can totally entrance an audience with no props, no costume and no set. All Mann has to assist him in his journey is clever lighting.
We first see him prone on the floor. He then curls up and twists his body effortlessly into a standing position. Even in these first few seconds we are captivated by his physicality. And this is used to great effect throughout the whole performance.
The pace is non-stop and one is amazed at how Mann maintains the rapidity with which he articulately delivers his lines.
And there is much humour in this production. Mann uses his knuckles to demonstrate nipples, to much hilarity, and his two hands are thrust above his head to convincingly demonstrate the eye of the Cyclops. Even whilst playing the great monster you believe he IS massive and that he IS scooping up warriors to gorge on, the blood and gore running down his face, and when, as Odysseus, he straps himself to the underbelly of a sheep to escape you believe that too, such is the inventiveness and virtuosity of this production.
Mann received a well-deserved standing ovation for this talented piece of drama.
It was only one hour, but one of the best hours I have ever spent in a theatre.
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