Aquila Theatre Company to present Wrath of Achilles, The Tempest

By Liam Otten

The storm. What force on earth is more fundamental, more dangerous or more spellbinding?

Next month, the British-American Aquila Theatre Company, one of the world's finest classical touring troupes, will examine storms in a variety of guises -- in the air, on the battlefield and of the mind -- during a two-evening stand for the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.

The British-American Aquila Theatre Company, one of the world’s finest classical touring troupes, will present The Wrath of Achilles, which re-sets Homer’s epic war poem The Iliad in the midst of World War II, today at Edison Theatre.

Today the company will present The Wrath of Achilles, which re-sets Homer's epic war poem The Iliad in the midst of World War II. On March 16 -- the troupe returns with a new production of William Shakespeare's rollicking rumination on love and loss, The Tempest. Shows begin at 8 p.m. both nights.

Based on books 16-19 of The Iliad, The Wrath of Achilles recounts the Greeks' near defeat at the hands of the advancing Trojans, as told and performed by a group of young Allied soldiers. Following in the footsteps of Aquila's much heralded The Iliad: Book One, which The New York Times described as "a performance of staggering power," Wrath brings to life some of the most famous moments in world literature, from the tempestuous Achilles' refusal to fight to the tragic death of his beloved comrade, Patroclus, to the hero's ferocious return to battle against the Trojans' champion, Hector. This performance is adapted from a new translation by Stanley Lomboardo.

The Tempest begins in a raging gale that forces a band of shipwrecked travelers onto the shores of an enchanted island. Awaiting the group is the banished magician Prospero, rightful duke of Milan, who has concocted the storm to ensnare one of the travelers, his traitorous brother, Antonio.

What follows is an intricate web of vengeance, greed, enslavement and murder that somehow, in the Bard's telling, emerges as a universal treatise on the struggle for utopia, the redemptive power of love and, ultimately, what it means to be human.

The Aquila Theatre Company was founded in London in 1991 by artistic director Peter Meineck. Now Company-in-Residence at the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University, the troupe has won critical and academic acclaim worldwide, with extensive touring throughout Europe, the United States and Canada and special performances at such venues as the British Museum, the McNay Art Museum and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Additional honors include the prize for dramatic excellence from the Greek government and several prestigious British Council Touring awards. Their original translations of Greek plays are published by Hackett Press.

The performances at Edison are made possible with additional support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis.

Tickets are $25 per show or $40 for the pair. Visit www.bigthankyou.org for additional discount information. Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre Box Office and through all MetroTix outlets. For more information, call 935-6543.