For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.

For ten years the cunning Odysseus fought in the Trojan War. Then the conquering hero spent a decade trying to return home to Ithaca: wandering the seas with his twelve ships, measuring his strength against giant cannibals and the gods, fighting magic spells and giving in to temptation. As “The Odyssey” begins, the people of Ithaca are tired of waiting for him. Citizens are demanding that a new king be crowned. Odysseus’ son Telemachus, who has grown up without a father, is having trouble filling the larger-than-life hero’s shoes. And Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, is busy fending off the 108 suitors seeking her hand and the power that comes with it. Someone must take responsibility. Something must happen – and soon. For this staging by the Junges DT, director Uli Jäckle has put together an ensemble of 21 children, seniors and youths. Together they tackle Homer’s epic, while integrating their own personal odysseys of waiting, longing and journeying.

Sponsored by the K.S. Fischer-Stiftung