The Odyssey as a panto? That may sound unlikely but, along with traditional fairytales, Charles Court Opera have previously made pantos based on Beowolf, Tutankhamun, The Three Musketeers and even the Nativity. John Savournin and David Eaton have a track record of success with their boutique reinventing of time-honoured stories.
This time, they have taken their cue from the opening of Homer’s epic on the island of Ithaca, where his wife Penelope is still awaiting the return of her husband, Odysseus, years after the other Greeks have got back from the Trojan War. Homer sends their son in search of him, but in this “heroic pantomime”, it is Penelope herself who sets off to find him and free him, accompanied by a constipated horse called Trojan who has her own connection with Odysseus and whose condition plays a crucial part in the plot.
It's a crazy reworking with its own kind of logic packed with clever verbal reappropriations and some jokes so funny because they are so bad and delivered with great verve by its all-female cast. Correction: there is an uncredited male voice (that I suspect is writer / director John Savournin) as unseen Zeus lording it over Amy J Payne’s Poseidon, Meriel Cunningham’s Dionysus, Rose Strobel’s Ares, Emily Cairn’s Aphrodite and Tamoy Phipps’s Hermes. Apollo is missing and sends his apologies—there are a lot of jokes like that.
Odysseus is ever-present (though I mustn’t tell you how), but, after the gods on Mount Olympus send Hermes to set Emily Cairn’s Penelope off on her journey, this is her story.
Hermes has messed up in the past, so now asks for audience aid to boost his confidence, complaining in traditional panto fashion that their responses are too quiet. He not only delivers the message but joins Penelope and Meriel Cunningham’s Trojan.
Meanwhile, Rosie Strobell’s malevolent Circe (“is that the best boo you can do!”), empowered by her magic, is feasting on the people she has turned into pigs.
On their way to face sorceress Circe, Penelope and her companions face the same perils that have delayed Odysseus: the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphefifofumus (as she names herself), Circe’s sister Scylla, the Sirens and two-headed canine Cerberus (not all of them the monsters you imagined), with Medusa thrown in for good measure. Even Aristophanes’ Frogs get a few croaks in.
The cast of five double delightfully. Stewart J Charlesworth’s crazy costumes facilitate their quick changes, and his colourful setting is continually resourceful and enlivened by Ben Pickersgill’s lighting.
It isn’t only Blair Anderson’s choreography that gets delivered with energy; this is a cast that constantly delivers and, of course, they sing splendidly whether its a new tune or a familiar one written or arranged by musical director David Eaton, who is on keyboard beside drummer Dave Jennings.
Though some of the quips twist something classical, you don’t need to know your Homer or Greek culture to find this hilarious. It really is great fun in the panto tradition and the singing is special.