World-class theatre
for children
Signed Performance
Synopsis Pack
The Odyssey
Page 1
Polka Theatre
240 Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB
+44 (0)20 8543 4888 www.polkatheatre.com
To prepare you for your visit to Polka we have put together a pack with images from the
production and an overview of the storyline.
The Odyssey is based on Homers Odyssey and is an adaptation from Geraldine
McCaughrean’s version.
Polka’s production is told by Tiresias. Tiresias is the soothsayer or oracle that Odysseus
meets in the underworld on his journey home.
This is what Tiresias looks like.
The same actor will take on different roles to tell the story.
The Odyssey
At the beginning of the play we are in the underworld.
Tiresias is asleep, when he hears a message from the Gods telling him to tell the story of
Odysseus...
Penelope is Odysseus’s wife and Queen of Ithaca; she has been waiting for Odysseus for 10
years while he has been away fighting in the Trojan War.
Her son is called Telemachus and he hasn’t seen his father since he was baby.
Many men have come to see if Penelope will marry them, they all tell her that Odysseus is
probably dead so she should re marry. They have been living in the castle and eating all her
food.
Penelope says she will wait.
Page 2
Polka Theatre
240 Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB
+44 (0)20 8543 4888 www.polkatheatre.com
On one of Odysseus’ adventures when he was nearly home he washed up on Calypso's
island. Calypso is a sea nymph. Odysseus lived on her Island for seven years, every day
asking if he could leave but she always told him she loved him and he must stay.
Athene is a goddess who also loves Odysseus; she pleased with her father Zeus, to let her
help him get home to his wife and child. All of the Gods have been forbidden from helping
Odysseus.
Why is Odysseus so special?
The story goes back to Troy where the Greeks are victorious and are going home. They have
been at War for 10 years.
On the journey home; Odysseus’ ships are caught in a storm and they arrive at an Island. 50
men go ashore to see if it is safe and to get food. When they don’t return Odysseus and
some of his men go to find them.
Odysseus finds the men in a clearing, eating fruit from villagers, they are smiling and sleepy.
They are on the Island of the Lotus eaters. Odysseus realises they are under a spell from the
fruit and him and his men carry them back to the ships.
Further on the journey home, they come to the Island of the Cyclops.
They go into a cave, Polyphemus one of the Cyclops, traps them in the cave and eats some
of the men, Odysseus thinks of a way out.
They give the Polyphemus some wine and he falls asleep. They carve his club into a spike
which they heat in the fire. When he wakes they push it into his eye, blinding him.
Escape from the cave and Polyphemus curses them and calls his father Poseidon the God of
the Sea to help him.
The next place Odysseus was brought to on the way home was a floating island. This is the
home of King Aeolus. The king agrees to help get Odysseus home.
Page 3
Polka Theatre
240 Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB
+44 (0)20 8543 4888 www.polkatheatre.com
He gives Odysseus a bag of winds that Zeus had confiscated from Poseidon. Odysseus uses
a gentle breeze to blow them home.
They can see Ithaca on the horizon, and while Odysseus slept his men open the bag and the
winds are set loose.
Poseidon hears and feels his strength returning. His winds drag Odysseus ships round the
ocean and far from home.
They find themselves near the land of the Laestrygonians. All the ships except Odysseus’
moor in the harbor.
This land is the land of man eating giants and Odysseus men run for their lives back to the
ships. Only Odysseus ship survives.
They find themselves on Circe’s Island. The men rush ahead and Odysseus follows slowly.
When he reaches them the he sees them turn into pigs.
Odysseus has a flower that is an antidote to magic spells and so is not turned into a pig.
Circe says a prophecy was written that she would love Odysseus.
She turns the men back into men from pigs and Odysseus agrees to stay a while.
He stays with her for a year while Penelope still waits for him. Circe can see Odysseus wants
to go home so she tells him Tireus in the underworld can tell him how to get back to Ithaca.
Odysseus and his men travel into the underworld
In the underworld they see Tiresus our story teller. He tells Odysseus how to get home, and
the journeys they will face,
They begin their journey; past Sirens singers, past a whirlpool call Charydbis and a sea
monster called Scylla and on to the Island of the Sun God.
Page 4
Polka Theatre
240 Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB
+44 (0)20 8543 4888 www.polkatheatre.com
During these adventures many men died and by the end only Odysseus is left, even his ship
has been smashed to pieces.
He washes up on Calypso’s Island where we began the story.
Zeus agrees to let Odysseus leave Calypso’s Island. Even though Poseidon makes this last
journey hard Odysseus washes up on Ithaca, home at last.
Odysseus decides to disguise himself to see if Penelope has re married. He meets with his
son Telemachus.
At a feast with her suitors Penelope is being forced to choose a new husband. Odysseus is
disguised as a beggar and Penelope gives him her food.
The suitors tell her she must choose and Telemachus says there should be a contest.
She sets three impossible tasks which none of the suitors can do, Odysseus asks if he can try
and he succeeds and then kills all the suitors with the help of Telemachus.
Penelope needs to prove for herself that it is Odysseus and when he proves it to her she is at
last happy he is home.
Tiresias has finished the story.
Page 5
Polka Theatre
240 Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1SB
+44 (0)20 8543 4888 www.polkatheatre.com