THE ODYSSEY

Urgent, poetically earthy, and extremely listenable, BBC Radio's full-cast dramatization of Odysseus's treacherous ten-year journey home to his wife and son is outstanding audio theater. Working from a specially commissioned adaptation by award-winning British poet Simon Armitage, the cast makes the gods sound all too human, the humans sound fully human, and the motivations of all the characters sound clear and credible. Poseidon, the god of the sea, seeks revenge for Odysseus's mutilation of his son, the Cyclops. Athena and her father, Zeus, play a high-stakes game with human pawns. And, as reflected in the soulful performances of Tim McInnerny and Amanda Redman, the returning soldier Odysseus and his wife miss each other terribly as he makes his way home from war. Presented as a fast-paced fantasy, the blind poet's tale remains an unsurpassed set piece of the Western World's age-old storytelling tradition. B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2009 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2009]