There is a lot going on in the Factory’s performance of The Odyssey, in fact possibly too much. The whole concept of the performance revolves around a series of gimmicks. For example, each scene has a theme, and each theme is picked at random from a pot by a member of the audience. As well as that, a different member of the cast (and on at least one occasion a member of the audience) played Odysseus in each scene.

The main gimmick is a memory one. There are so many different ways in which the play could be performed that the actors haven’t been able to practice each one to a level that they are comfortable with, and it shows. On several occasions actors forgot their lines, or interrupted each other. With both the ‘one-word-at-a-time’ and ’24 words’ themes, actors seemed genuinely chuffed with themselves that they had remembered the words.

The narration was also interesting – with multiple actors addressing the audience directly and indirectly. At points the entire performance would pause so that an actor could explain how it related to something that ‘scholars say’ or ‘in the news’. The fact that the play was performed book-by-book meant that each narrator ended their scene with ‘…and the story continues in book…’ This would be good if the story was performed over the course of a month like a bedtime story, but in a single sitting it put too much emphasis on the countdown to Book 24.

One of things that I did really enjoy was the songs. They were sung in ancient Greek, in a really haunting way that was probably closest to the way that the epic was originally performed. That said it is surprising that none of the scenes were performed as a chorus. I’m sure the writers could have taken out one of the ‘radio play’, ‘interview’ or ‘reading from the book’ themes and still kept the variety.

In conclusion, The Factory’s Odyssey works well in concept, but could use a little work in the rehearsal room.