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Greek mythology comes to life at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in May.
Harry Potter has a rival nipping at his heels and his name is Percy Jackson. Jackson - the adolescent hero of Rick Riordan’s imagination, battles not the occult but Greek gods. The movie adaptation “The Lightening Thief” (Miramax Books, 2005), the first in the Olympians series of five books so far, premiered last February.
Riordan succeeds at making Greek mythology exciting for youngsters and adults who are young-at-heart. The book “The Lightning Thief” asks in the first pages “Why study mythology and does it relate to contemporary life?” It then proceeds to answer with wild escapades that Jackson, son of Poseidon, withstands and conquers.
If you and your teenage children want to see the real thing, attend the play “The Trojan Women” by Euripides, performed by The Odeum Theatre on May 20-23 and 27-30 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. By “real thing” I don’t mean the play is spoken in Greek, but it does capture the essence of the original. The stage play is as entertaining as the Percy Jackson movie, but more immediate.
Ken Tracy, creative head of Choregus Productions, which is sponsoring this play, has updated the original drama about the horrors of the Peloponnesian Wars. Unlike Riordan’s phantasmagoric fantasy, Tracy incorporates language, costumes and props to entertain modern audiences. The story stays true to its core, yet rings pitch-perfect in our troubled world.
War and its aftermath stay vulgar and violent down through the ages and Greek mythology has never been bested at explaining human foibles. You’ll meet Hecuba, Cassandra, Achilles and much of Zeus’ tribe in Riordan’s and Euripides’ efforts. You’ll want to remember these characters and bring them to the fore when trouble knocks on your front door.
