Idomeneus: Digging for truth in myth
Idomeneus
By Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translated by David Tushingham, Canadian Premiere
Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto, Friday, March 9, 2018
In the end, it’s all about the story. The story you remember, the story you want to tell, and the story you don’t want to admit happened. After surviving a 10-year siege and the final horrific battle for Troy, Idomeneus sails home leading a fleet of eighty ships. A storm arises and every vessel in his fleet but his own goes to the bottom of the Aegean. Why? Why, after all that?
But it’s all about staying alive, so Idomeneus promises the gods that if he and his remaining crew survive, he will sacrifice the first living thing he sees when he sets foot on home soil, the island of Crete. If there is one thing we know about Idomeneus, he is a man of his word; a promise is a promise. …