Walcott’s ‘Odyssey’ wows Europe

Just returned from the tour to prepare for next month’s performances of his new play, Steel, in Queen’s Hall, Walcott described the experience as a wonderful experiment. He was particularly enthused by the performance of the mixed company and the easy blending of the two cultures from both sides of the Atlantic.

The TTW’s Artistic Director, Eunice Alleyne and TTW associate, Brian Green, all of whom will perform in Steel, joined actors from St Lucia, Italy and Spain on the tour entitled La Odesa Antilia.

Steel, to open on September 13 for six nights only at Queen’s Hall, is itself expected to go on tour after the Trinidad premiere next month.

The group performed The Odyssey to appreciative audiences at the Ortigia Festival in Syracuse, Sicily; at the Caserta Festival in the city so named in Italy, and the Merida Festival in Spain.

The challenging tour saw the local actors inventing a new multilingual idiom that encompassed Caribbean English, Italian and Spanish. Alleyne performed roles requiring use of all three languages: Spanish, Italian and English

"The shows were well attended throughout." said Albert Laveau, TTW’s Artistic and Managing Director, who explained that they had the opportunity to perform in the Italy’s Theatrico Roman — Roman Theatre — and all the performances were open air.

"Working in several languages at the same time was a novel experiment, the only time that was ever attempted was in Babel," said Laveau. "The experience was exhilarating, extremely informative and extremely challenging for actors of the Caribbean."

He said they met a fully professional group of actors recruited from across Spain and Italy to form a company. The producing company for the tour was Change Performing Arts based in Milan.

The group is now steeped in rehearsal of Walcott’s upcoming musical, Steel.

Part of the Workshop’s observances of this as the TTW Year of Derek Walcott in honour of the Nobel Laureate’s 75th birthday, Steel is co-sponsored by British Gas and the Neal and Massy Group. It is a love story, and tells of the development of the steelpan from pitchoil tins to world class orchestra.