The piece was so well-received that 8 of the performers have subsequently been invited to perform in Berlin (October 08) and London (by world famous contemporary dance theatre Sadler’s Wells, November 08). Zoe Anderson from the Dancing Times (January 2009) reports ‘Sadler’s Wells were particularly impressed with the work of OYO (…) In OYO’s opening number a girl reveals herself as HIV positive. Her community turns on her spitting in her face. At last she kills herself – a mimed gunshot making a shocking, unexpected death. The whole cast then sing a lament, retelling her story in beautiful a capella thythms and harmonies’.
‘The Namibian Odysseus’, directed and choreographed by Philippe Talavera, has been recorded on location, with Horst Zaire as lead camera and Matias Kamati as second camera. The video captures not only the story but also the dance movements created for the show. Recorded in Windhoek (Katutura, Zoo Park, Parliament Gardens, etc.), it is the moving tale of a married wife, Penelope (Julien Geirises) waiting anxiously for her husband, Odysseus (Zito da Cunha), a migrant worker.
The video will be launch on Wednesday 18 March 2009 at the COTA Theatre School – free entrance – in the presence of some of the dancers, crew and the director.
Synopsis:
Three-thousand-two-hundred years ago in Greece, after fighting the Trojan War for 10 years, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, embarked on a fantastic journey known as the Odyssey. Facing many dangers and escaping many monsters, he visited many places over the course of many years. During his journey, he met with Circe, the enchantress who lived in a cave. She put him under her spell; some say they had seven children together. After leaving her cave, he kept on sailing and met Calypso, a nymph who was the daughter of Atlas, who promised him immortality if he would stay with her. He refused her offer, so she held him prisoner for seven years, during which time they had three children together. When finally set free, he resumed his journey and arrived in the land of the Phaeacians, where he met Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous. She said to her friends that this was the kind of man whom she could fancy for a husband if he would settle in her land …
Twenty years later, Odysseus finally returned to Ithaca. While he had been away, his wife Penelope, Queen of Ithaca, had refused to believe he might be dead, and had remained faithful to him. Suitors at the court had been insistent that she should marry one of them, but she had devised strategies to keep them waiting. Even Amphinomous, who was rumoured to have seduced her, did not manage to marry her. Upon his return, Odysseus killed the suitors and resumed his family life with his trusted wife and their son Telemachus, now an adult …
Three-thousand-two-hundred years later, in Katutura, a man is about to embark on a another fantastic journey … the Namibian Odyssey.
The Namibian Odysseus is a modern adaptation of the Greek story. If Odysseus had lived today in Namibia, if he had had so many extra-marital relationships, what would his story have looked like? In the time of HIV/AIDS, unemployment and poverty, what would his journey have been? In our story, Odysseus is living in Katutura. He hears about work in a mine and leaves his wife, Penelope, and child, Telemachus. But the mine is soon to close down, and so he must continue with his journey, trying to find his way in a country where “the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor”. All the while, his wife tries to deal with the pressure of being a single parent, raising a child on her own.
