The Odyssey, Wilton’s Music Hall, theatre review: Hannah Kidd gives the story most of its emotion

Replacing an injured Jonathan Goddard, Christopher Akrill also makes a mercurial meddling god

(Nicole Guarino)

Mark Bruce Company’s danced version of The Odyssey conjures up a world of gods and sideshows, with showgirl nymphs and leatherclad heroes. It’s stronger on spectacle than feeling. Bruce has a sure eye for carnival imagery, but doesn’t get to grips with Odysseus’s longing for home.

The Odyssey follows Bruce’s 2013 hit Dracula, with a similar glee in theatricality. Phil Eddolls’ set design shifts easily from Greek ship to conjuror’s backdrop, while Wilton’s lends its own irresistible music hall atmosphere. The music hops from Frank Sinatra to Mozart to soundscapes by Bruce himself. The two-hour show packs in events, sometimes confusingly. The storytelling is most effective when it embraces magic and monsters: lipsyncing sirens, sea-creatures attacking the hero’s ship.

As Odysseus, Christopher Tandy has a bold, animal quality, ruthless in confronting gods and monsters. There’s no tenderness; the production doesn’t explore the hero’s love for his family, and he's brutal to everyone else. Bruce may mean to underline the misogyny of myth, but ends up with a lot of threatened, dragged-about women.

Replacing an injured Jonathan Goddard, Christopher Akrill makes a mercurial meddling god, switching different sinister personas. Hannah Kidd is a commanding but vulnerable Penelope, giving the story most of its emotion.