Mark Bruce Company return to Exeter

The award-winning Mark Bruce Company, whose critically acclaimed dance theatre production of Dracula performed to sellout audiences across the country in 2013 and 2014, bring their brand new production The Odyssey to Exeter Northcott Theatre.

The King, Odysseus (Christopher Tandy) separated from his family for ten years of brutal war, faces another ten year struggle to return home as a reckless God (Chris Akrill) drags him on an epic journey across oceans to strange lands and the darkness beyond.  Immortal beauties, shape shifters, monsters and sorcerers both guide and torment the king as he hurtles towards a savage and desperate reunion with his Queen.

The cast and creative team that brought you the multi award-winning Dracula present a vision of a broken world, from faded New York pageants to islands of fantasy; brutal seas, battlefields and a gateway to Hades.  Set to music ranging from Mozart to Mark Lanegan; Sacred Arias to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and an originally composed score; this Odyssey is of now – contemporary horror and fantasy splintering from ancient myth, the themes universal: how we face our mortality and the driving force of the Gods inside us.

“Mark Bruce’s post-apocalyptic take on the Homeric hero is a walk on the wild side.” (The Stage)

“With its dark monsters, fickle gods and shapeshifting women, Homer’s Odyssey is perfect terrain for the myth-making imagination of Mark Bruce.  From the moment we see his nightclub version of Hades with a bicep-pumping underworld god backed by a chorus of boogieing skeletons, this adaptation promises to be fun.”  (Guardian)

“In the attention to soundtrack, Mark Bruce is like the Quentin Tarantino of contemporary dance.  In the stylised femmes fatales and heavy bodycount too.”  (Evening Standard)

“Mark Bruce can excite your senses like few others in contemporary dance theatre…Greek myth it may be but the poem has all the timeless ingredients of a gripping story: deceit, naked ambition, violence, and love – and Bruce’s telling, which is not slavish to the poem and characters, slips between Homer and the modern day.” (DanceTabs)

“Mark Bruce makes in-your-face theatre.  It’s very rock ‘n’ roll: loud, brash, bloody and violent – and not without a touch of humour.  All this works well in a high octane version of the story.”  (theartsdesk)

The Odyssey comes to the stage at Exeter Northcott Theatre on 11 and 12 April, performances at 7.30pm.

Tickets:  £10.50 to £18.50 from 01392 726363 or at www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

Post-Show Discussion: Monday 11 April.

Suitable for ages 14+