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Past Event
Thursday, April 7, 2022, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

An Iliad

987-D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, 92075
Cost: $49

After The Poet left the stage at the end of the show, the fellow sitting next to me said, “I can review that in just two words: holy shit.” It worked on several levels. First, it seemed a natural response to the play’s emotional wrecking-ball wallop, which is likely to leave the viewer banged up, bowled over, wrung out, and generally left open-mouthed but not terribly talkative. Second, it deftly caught at its masterful juxtaposition of glory and horror, divinity and filth. Third, this is a great production of an excellent play, featuring a towering solo performance. “Holy shit” is here high praise. Homer’s Iliad tells the story of a battle between two superheroes, Achilles and Hector, in the midst of a war between two armies, the Greeks and the Trojans. It has endured for over 2700 years, which makes it a very famous book, but of course, it was never meant to be read. It’s a poem, rendered in verse so that it might be recited — sung, even — by a poet before an audience. (The work’s first words are the poet’s prayer for aid in the daunting task: “Sing, Muse! In what ill-fated hour sprung the fierce strife…”) That poet is the tragic hero of Lisa Peterson and Dennis O’Hare’s An Iliad — tragic because, after so many centuries soaked in blood, he no longer wants to sing his song, but he cannot seem to help himself, any more than we can help ourselves. (We love this stuff, violence and rage and heartbreak and hate. Just look how the story has endured.) So he doffs his hat and coat, puts down his suitcase, calls upon a different spirit (Athena Tequila), and sets off on his mission, not just to let us hear, but to make us see. So yes, we get the Greek ships and the walls of Troy and Achilles and Hector and their beloved friends and family and the meddling gods in their midst, but what we really get is Richard Baird as The Poet, breaking open the story even as the story breaks his heart, drawing us in and dragging us out, making a world with his words and little else. (Though what help he has is expert, in the form of cellist Amanda Schaar, draped in shadow and making her instrument render whatever sound the story requires.) And even as he makes that world, he begs us to make it end. It plays through this weekend. Go see it if you can.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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