An Odyssey

about a decade ago i was engaged in a project that was a theatrical retelling of the odyssey in words and music through a workshop production...

yes, i know that this has been done, but in some ways all of us have to come to grips with our own personal journeys. the odyssey is a perfect touchstone for this adventure. each of us must come home, if we only knew where home was or what home actually is...

the project culminated in a first act in which ulysses arrived home safely...this first act was about two hours...

we never got to the second act. mostly because i was discovering that the ulysses story had been rewritten from an earlier version based on a matriarchal society... this had come to my attention through the performer who was playing the lead role of ulysses and had been researching the background of homer's work...

even though transformed into a patriarcal model by homer, the odyssey is all about strong women, women in control, and men at the mercy of women whether they be sexy, scary, beguiling, wise, intellectual, or powerful. homer slips up in the end, because although ulysses father, king laertes, is still alive, penelope is the real power, which is why she has so many suitors vying to replace the absent ulysses... why would this be so since the king is still alive? the emergence of homer's odyssey appears to take place during the transition from pelasgian matriarchy to greek-aryan patriarchy, and even scholars today acknowledge that there must be antecedents to the homeric epic....

consequently, i could no longer adhere to a more traditional interpretation and dramatization of this classic...

i would rather have explored the odyssey in its matriarchal context, especially since i believe we might be on the verge of a new world order based on the values of a matriarchal society... there is substantial research that describes the matriarchal origins of societies living around the black sea, as well as their african connections (which provides an additional layer of meaning for fresh interpretation)...