Playwright: Craig Wright ( after Homer ) At: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells. Tickets: 312-943-8722; www.aredorchidtheatre.org; $25-$30. Runs through: Dec. 19
IIt took the Greeks 10 years to overcome Ilium ( Troy ) , but Craig Wright's interesting and odd adaptation of The Iliad runs just 50 minutes. Not surprisingly, he doesn't tell the entire Homeric epic. He focuses on the monumental battle of egos between King Agamemnon, the Greek commander and his best warrior, the god-like Achilles. After nine-and-a-half years of stalemate, the Greeks nearly met their doom in a few weeks as Agamemnon and Achilles measured dicks.
The anatomical reference may be coarse, but it's appropriate as Wright sees the work as being about issues of masculinity and femininity within each individual ( mostly testosterone in this case ) , and about maturity vs. immaturity at any age. The oddity of the play is that Wright created it for an all-female cast of adolescent and pre-adolescent women, allowing them to explore aspects of manhood in ways that illuminate them for performers and audiences alike. Of course, there are women in The Iliad such as Helen, Hecuba and Cassandra, but the two who make it into Wright's version are reducedin actual factto toy dolls: voiceless objects, manipulated and possessed by men as property or spoils of war. It's a "reductio ad absurdum" of unemancipated women still found globally in some cultures and on Jerry Springer.
There's nothing new in the well-known story being told but only in the manner of its telling. The miniaturization of women may be the show's best idea, and you get it in the first minute. The various ironies and illuminations of young women playing men also appear quickly, as do the intervention of the gods which often make moot the decisions and dreams of mankind. After that, this version of The Iliad very much seems to be for the benefit of the performers, given that most of the performersmany from A Red Orchid's Youth Ensembleare not professional actors.
Fortunately it's brief enough to hold the audience's attention, and more than vigorous enough in action and text. Wright and director Steve Wilson keep things moving briskly by incorporating elements of Story Theatre, Greek theatre, puppetry and a lot of stage combat. The multi-cultural cast of 13 is drilled to precision for the intensely physical performance they give, utilizing every aisle and corner of A Red Orchid's small Old Town theater. Wright's text also moves things along by keeping the language relatively simple and forthright, although at the expense of the metaphysical and narrative complexities of The Iliad.
The bottom line is that this production is a novelty, an upgraded version of the school play. It's exciting to see what they've accomplished, but it stretches the kids' borders far more than yours. Of course, that's true of much fully adult theater as well.