Burjesta's Odyssey begins

Hope Street-based theatre company Burjesta returns this week with its 12th production, an in-house adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey.A founding stone of Greek mythology, Homer’s epic story of monsters, magicians, witches and goddesses is part adventure, part romance, part Revenge Tragedy, and a tale which has been mesmerising audiences for more than 3000 years.Will Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War and inventor of the ‘wooden horse’, be able to make it home to Ithaca in time to wreak revenge on the vicious gang of suitors who are besieging his palace, fighting for his beloved wife Penelope’s hand in marriage and threatening to kill his son? In order to do so he must first outwit Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant Cyclops who eats men for breakfast; Circe the deadly witch who turns men into livestock; the Sirens whose divine and irresistible song lures men to a pitiful end; Scylla the six-headed serpent and Lord Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker who pursues Odysseus across the wide-seas in a vendetta-fuelled rage.Odysseus must use all his famed ingenuity to defy death and descend down to the underworld in the Halls of Hades to commune with the blind prophet Tiresias. Fortunately, Help is at hand - Odysseus has the immortal goddess, Athene, by his side who holds an enduring soft spot for him…Burjesta Theatre was set up in 2011 with a mission to stage high quality drama relevant to Liverpool audiences, and involving people living in the city at every level of the production. The company works out of the Casa venue on Hope Street, where it runs regular workshops. "We wanted to challenge the elitist norm of theatre with working-class people not being side-lined or marginalised because of their accents or culture," said co-founder Julian Bond.Catch The Odyssey at the Casa until Saturday and at the Unity on April 21.