The Presentation of the Odyssey 2008 By three highschool freshman

#1    However I do know that I definitely wasn’t excited when my teacher passed the Odyssey out to our class. Every comment I had heard about this book was something along the lines of "Ugh why do we even need to read this book?! I hate it. Its so pointless!". So basically I had a really negative view on the book before I had even picked it up. Not exactly the greatest way to start a new book.

       But the day before my class began the Odyssey, the freshmen and Latin 2 students attended an assembly. Here we watched one man act out the entire Odyssey. And for those who haven’t read the Odyssey, there are almost too many different characters to count, so I was amazed at the talent this man possessed. I think everyone’s favorite part of the show was, without argument, when the man lifted up a trident and at that exact moment, sirens began to go off, though it was not part of the show.

     The next runner up for the favorite moment of the show occurred when he was acting the scene where Odysseus has to string the bow, partially because he had an actual bow as a prop. Everyone I believe enjoyed watching him string the bow, and also the sound effects, which he was amazing at. Sometimes when the man made the sound of a creature or, everyone's favorite, an arrow flying through hoops, it seemed surreal how talented he is.

     In conclusion, the man who performed the entire Odyssey by himself is very good at his job. I kept forgetting that he was only one man, and the sound effects he made as I said were really entrancing to the point you forget you were not there in the ancient world. In fact a lot of the questions at the end of the show were pertaining to how he made the sounds, or asking him to make the sounds again. When my class started the Odyssey the next day I understood it completely, and the presentation greatly helped with this.

#2   One man onstage with only a few props managed to keep this story exciting. His use of imagery and his presence onstage kept my attention. this great performance helped me understand The Odyssey.

#3    For a performance with one person, it was surprisingly interesting. I felt he caught the excitement and thrill from The Odyssey. He kept the performance exciting and absolutely not dull. His voice effects and gestures came to put a picture in my mind. The way he told the story, I could picture everything that I did while reading the book. Overall, it was enjoyable and I hope he continues to make reading The Odyssey just a tad more interesting.

Vernon Cox, Maine Storyteller

"You bring the epics alive with passion and commitment to their beauty and the rythum that was present when they were first told centuries ago"