‘An Iliad’ with Ben Gorman at the Firehouse

The acclaimed one-actor drama An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, featuring professional actor Ben Gorman, will perform at the FireHouse Arts & Events Center on February 27 at 7:00 pm. It’s a powerful, dramatic exploration of humankind’s urge to warfare using Homer’s Iliad as the focal point. Tickets available online and at the door.

Produced by the Commonweal Theatre Company of southeastern Minnesota, this production of the play was first mounted in August, 2019, as part of their second stage series, Wealhouse. Directed by Megan K. Pence, it sold out houses and earned great local buzz.

Commonweal resident ensemble member and veteran actor Ben Gorman plays “the Poet”an unnamed traveling Bard. Gorman, a seasoned stage actor who has tackled roles from Hamlet to Scrooge, first toured extensively with the American Shakespeare Center, bringing Shakespeare and Marlowe across the eastern half of the U.S. The role of the Poet is his greatest challenge yet. Says Gorman, “It has truly been next-level work for me, as challenging as it is rewarding. Embodying the Poet is like channeling a Muse.”

The play, first produced in 2010, is an intimate retelling of the ancient Homeric epic The Iliad from the perspective of one participant. The text is based on the acclaimed Robert Fagles translation, which is used liberally throughout the play. Employing minimal stagecraft, An Iliad is raw storytelling at its best, vigorous and deeply affecting. It is about war and warriors, but also much more. By fits and starts, the Poet unfolds the ancient Greek narrative poem, coloring it with his personal anecdotes and descriptions, giving it immediacy and depth.

Far from a dry history lesson, the Poet’s dynamic retelling brings the tale to vivid life and gives it relevance to his modern audience. He distills The Iliad’s vast scope down to human scale by portraying a handful of the iconic characters and their fateful interactions in the Trojan War. Humankind’s incessant urge to warfare is rarely so clearly illuminated, its cost so feelingly expressed.