Review

"… This risk is an impressive test of how bodily and spatial art can, at least, overcome the limits of language and national cultures in a European context. A magical, legendary, highly seductive occasion!”

- Nachtkritik.de

"Both actors create something magical.”

- NDR.de

"... an intensely staged piece [...], which plays out on stage like a horror movie. Those who know the Greek myth of Ulysses will recognize many of the characters. Everyone else will be captivated by the satisfying, unstoppable game played by the two actors.”

- NDR.de

The Odyssee

An odyssey according to Homer
Director Antú Romero Nunes

How many versions of The Odyssey have there been? Surely the number is incalculable and too much has been already said about it. Perhaps that is why Antú Romero and his team have created an invented, fake language that sounds similar to the Scandinavian, Nordic and Germanic ones. This gamble might alarm the audience, but herein lies its well-rendered theatricality, with spoken language relinquishing its supremacy to the power of the actors’ gestures and bodies.

In a brutally funny, dynamic and ground-breaking production, the play is an extremely loose interpretation of the Greek classic. With multiple cameos – there is even a photo of Kirk Douglas, who played Odysseus/Ulysses in the 1954 movie – as well as chain saws, squirrels and a coffin, it is the main characters’ excellent performances that bring everything together.

Antú Romero is well-known for his performance-art, humorous and masterful theater pieces, which have earned him both recognition and a position at one of the main public theaters in Germany, the Thalia Theater. Son of a Chilean mother and Portuguese father, the director has spent time working in Chile on theater and cinema productions.

“Few sons are like their fathers, most are worse, few are better” - Homer

When Odysseus, also known as Ulysses, left for the Trojan War, he left his country and family behind. Now, twenty years later, his return to Ithaca is eagerly awaited by two of his children: Telemachus, from his marriage to the ever-faithful Penelope and Telegonus, from his union with Circe, a goddess and enchantress from the Island of Aeaea. Without ever having met their father or even knowing if he is still alive, the two half-brothers wait for him and wonder about his life, trying to reconstruct the multifaceted figure of the mythical Greek hero. However, how much do they really know about him? How real are the stories they have heard about his adventures and feats? How do you treat a brother you hardly know?

Die Odyssee is a contemporary reinterpretation of one of the most extraordinary figures in Greek mythology. The director Antú Romero Nunes brings this classic character created by Homer to the stage in an outrageous, daring and intense version with skillful performances by Thomas Niehaus and Paul, who perfectly dominate the invented language. A resident for several years at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Romero Nunes is renowned for his performance-based, ironic and consummate theater work.

Thalia Theater

When Cheri Maurice was granted the license for a theatre in Hamburg in 1843, he was forbidden to stage serious plays in order to protect the Stadttheater on Dammtorstraße. As a result, he named his theatre after the Greek muse of comedy, Thalia, and opened its doors on November 9, 1843, in a spot directly opposite its current location. The theatre continued to be frequently invited to Theatertreffen and selected for Theatre of the Year. It remained a financial success.

Joachim Lux has been the Managing Director at Thalia Theater since the summer of 2009. He began signing up brilliant directors to the theatre in his very first season. The topics and plays covered in play seasons reflect the tendency to occupy oneself more with the “world” and less with inner, psychological realms. Many invitations to perform abroad—including from Russia, China, Bogotá and many European countries—as well as countless awards for our actors, productions, directors and set designers, are all testament to the ongoing work by Thalia Theater and its staff.

Director: ANTÙ ROMERO NUNES

Antú Romero Nunes (Tubinga,1983) is an actor and theater director, son of a Chilean mother and Portuguese father. Although he worked in Chile for a time as an assistant director in cinema and the theater, he has spent a large part of his career in Germany. Known for his dynamic directing style that explores free adaptations of the classics, his work has been performed in theaters in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Schwerin. He was a resident director at the Maxim Gorki Theater (2010-2013) and was named Most Promising Director of 2010 by the prestigious magazine ‘Theatreheute’con. In 2012, he received the Kurt Hübner award for Rocco und seine Brüder and the Friedrich Luft award for Best Production in Berlin and Potsdam for Die Räber. He has been resident director of the Thalia Theater since 2014.