An Iliad (Lantern Theater Company, Philadelphia) adapted from Homer by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare

Is there any better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than as witness to The Poet who moves, ghost-like, between the camps, the worlds, the minds of the men engaged in the final throes of the Trojan War?  If you are spending that time watching a mesmerizing Peter DeLaurier as the The Poet, then I would have to say no.

This adaptation, by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare (whose work as an actor I love) of a story we all know is absolutely superb.  

Though it is, unfortunately, exceedingly rare that stories of war feel so far away as to not touch us, move us, anger us, Peter Delaurier’s Poet sweeps us into the mire with heartfelt fury and agony.  His Poet wishes only to never have to sing this song again.  We humans, unfortunately, cannot seem to learn from our histories and so the song must continue.  The point at which The Poet spits, screams, cries, moans the name every war from Troy until the present is riveting and terrifying and excruciatingly sad.

The Poet is not alone in his quest to edify.  The lovely and insanely talented Liz Filios adds dimension, emotion and sound, sound, sound with her turn as The Muse who aids, sustains and informs the telling of the story.

The set is simple, the costumes those of the wretched, but the story, oh the story and the two who relate it shine like new pennies.  Homer would be proud.