Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a playwright?
Our Author Insights series features personal essays from playwrights, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas and experiences that shaped their work.
Below, read “The Journey Is the Story”, where playwright James Zager reflects on his play The Tales of Odysseus. You can also download a free PDF that pairs the essay with short, classroom-ready activities for students.
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The Journey Is the Story
James Zager
What we strive to achieve in our lives is not always in concert with what we actually do, day to day and moment to moment. Odysseus and his crew want to get home, but they will also take on any adventure that comes their way, even if it adds years to the journey.
We have all lost time with our family and friends due to obligations at work. The idea of leaving home for years to fight a battle in a distant land and then spending a decade traveling back home again really struck a chord with me as I adapted this masterpiece into a one-hour play. What is gained and what is lost?
Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey consists of 24 books that include the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus’ ocean journey home, and the reclaiming of his home in Ithaca. I chose to focus on the journey home, books 9-12 known as “The Wanderings of Odysseus” because they contain the most identifiable and exciting stories. While we lose some of the socio-political aspects of the novel, what we gain is a compact adventure-filled play that is a gateway to the larger piece of literature.
To deliver that excitement of exploration the play is divided into 11 tales and bookended with a choric prologue and epilogue. Projections and a Greek chorus of Mother, Father, Partner, Child are used to quickly establish new locations and swaths of sailcloth, crates and barrels are rearranged to set the scenes. The cast size is flexible with as few as 5 and as many as 20 actors.
The structure of the play reflects the structure of our memories. We tell the stories of our own lives through reminiscence of meaningful events. Every audience member will most likely identify with a number of the stories that we chose to tell, though likely not the same for each. That is what imbues this epic tale with its enduring connection and fascination to contemporary audiences.
At the very heart of this play is the idea that life is about the journey, not the destination.