An Iliad, Portland Center Stage, Grade A

Written by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson, based on Homer's The Iliad
Directed by Penny Metropulos
Staring Joseph Graves

sez says: this is what theater is suppose to be, engaging, serious, alive, even breathtaking and full of purpose.  Rage is the beginning, an epic is told, but what is the human reality underlying the emotion and the history?  Why do humans war?  Strife raises its head and grows till it fills the sky, says our one man singer/storyteller.  He asks repeatedly, do you see what I am saying? can you really see it?   And no one can ignore what his words bring into the room. He makes us see even if we don't want to look. The energy required to provide this performance is extraordinary--but Graves ran this marathon--a full hour and 45 minutes, non-stop, without skipping a beat, or resting in the process.  This is a suburb piece of theater, beautifully done.