Sartrouville Theater Festival 2002
Montreuil Public Theater – Maria Casarès Room 2002
Spoleto Festival (as part of La Trilogie des Îles) 2014

Adapted from Homer by Jean-Claude Carrière and Irina Brook

“After exploring all existing tales, I decided it was best to choose the greatest of them all, because it touches on the universal and can, on different levels, resonate with all audiences, young and old.

For me, the magic of raw, unadorned theatre—which can conjure up entire worlds from a stick, a rag, and a few musical notes—stems from the actor’s performance, occupying an empty space.

I focused on the cunning side of Odysseus, on the one who triumphs not through brute force but through the ingenuity of his wiles. The four actors in the show are both storytellers and performers, protagonists and witnesses. It was from their improvisations—because everything must be organic—that Jean-Claude Carrière wrote the final adaptation.

This shared performance puts the imagination—that of both the actors and the audience—into power. The sirens sing the blues. Circe is a belly dancer. Hermes on a scooter with wings on his back tells you: ‘There’s no sign for the post office here!’

The story is totally accessible to all. It allows me to share one of the greatest classic texts while inspiring philosophical and existential questions in the form of a timeless tale.”

Production History: Created for young audiences at the Sartrouville Theater Festival, the production premiered in 2002 with Augustin Ruhabura, Hovnatan Avédikian, Basile-Bernard de Bodt, and Ysmahane Yaqini. In 2013, it became part of La Trilogie des Îles (The Islands Trilogy) at the Spoleto Festival, winning the Air France prize for most original stage direction. When Brook became artistic director of the Théâtre National de Nice in 2014, she brought the production back, performing it across gardens and museums throughout the city, bringing theatre into the streets in magical encounters with the public.