In the atmospheric Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a candlelit Jacobean-inspired theatre, a slice of the Caribbean appears. Omeros is a dramatisation of Nobel Prize winning poet Derek Walcott’s epic-poem, telling the story of two St Lucian fishermen, Achille and Hector, and the housemaid, Helen with whom they fall in love. There are only four performances of this considerable work of modern poetry that references Homer’s Iliad in plot and character, underscoring the dramas of the people with wider themes of colonialism, cultural rituals and the relativity of man and nature.
The poem is performed by two actors, Jade Anouka and Joseph Marcell who share the duties of narrator, author and characters, deftly switching between these roles as they action unfolds. Very little is needed in terms of set and props – just a chair, a crate and a cane – relying instead on the impressive skill of the actors to bring Walcott’s story vividly to life. But this is more than just an elaborate poetry reading; the action is moved along both in acted scenes between characters and in reported speech by the storytellers. And while there is no linear narrative as such, it flows smoothly between scenes, taking in a range of characters, scenarios and locations with ease.
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