‘Odysseus and Penelope’ @ Evil Eye Productions
Courtesy of Evil Eye Productions
—Rickey Wax
It’s a rare joy to walk into a theatre and find yourself pulled back to the bare-bones beauty of ancient performance. Evil Eye Productions’ and Beutel Productions’ revival of Odysseus and Penelope leans into that timeless simplicity—with a live band onstage creating stormy seas using a rain stick, thunder with a drumroll, and musical textures that whisper, beckon, and crash. Like the earliest Greek dramas, this production trusts its performers, its audience, and the power of myth.
Loosely adapted from Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus and Penelope tells two tales in tandem. On one side of the sea, Odysseus (played by the playwright himself, Logan Beutel) endures a ten-year, god-cursed voyage home after the Trojan War. On the other, wife Penelope (the quietly commanding Shalini Patel) must fend off greedy suitors and keep her home from unraveling. It’s a classic tale of loyalty, endurance, and survival, told here with a mix of physical theatre, lyrical movement, and live music.
The play opens with an invitation to the audience to join in battle cries—a jolt of energy that thrusts us into the aftermath of the Trojan War. Swordplay follows, as Odysseus and his men begin their cursed journey. The production employs clever theatrical tools to depict the larger-than-life elements of Greek myth. Shadow puppetry—rarely used on modern stages—adds an ancient magic to encounters with Poseidon and the Cyclops. In fact, shadow plays are believed to date back to early Greek rituals and storytelling techniques. Their use here, paired with a ripple effect of light and sound to mimic the sea, transforms minimal staging into something deeply evocative.
The first act builds to a compelling cliffhanger as Odysseus’s shipwreck looms, and Penelope is faced with the cruel reality of choosing a new husband. The dual momentum of the separated lovers creates a beautiful tension—fate circling both like a hawk. You feel the inevitable approach of the reunion, but the script resists sentimentality, opting instead for a clear-eyed meditation on time, change, and endurance.
Back in Ithaca, Penelope’s story is no less compelling. Shalini Patel imbues her with a lovely balance of vulnerability and cunning. She is no damsel in distress but a strategic, patient leader, using her wits to delay the suitors with poise and grace. One such suitor, Antinous, played with terrifying nuance by Jay Richberg, delivers a performance marked by intense physicality and a chilling vocal range—from soft, simmering menace to sharp bursts of rage.
Harper Lee gives a haunting performance as Odysseus’s mother, with a particularly moving scene in which she gives herself to the sea—a still, stunning moment that lands with emotional weight. Jayden Hernandez brings a youthful urgency to their son Telemachus, while ensemble members Dalton Glenn (Eurylochus), Reagan Wren (Alkimos), Andy Gonzales-Bendickson (Leocritus), Oscar Jimenez (Polites), and Aiden Morales (ensemble) all move fluidly through multiple roles, often transforming with just a shift of fabric or a twist of stance. Their commitment gives the production a kinetic sense of movement and myth.
Director Megan Muscato, who co-founded Evil Eye Productions alongside Beutel, helms the production with vision and restraint, letting the story’s emotional current guide the action. The choreography by Skylar Duvall elevates moments of grief and longing into poetic movement, particularly in a breathtaking dance shared between Odysseus and Penelope across time and space—one in the underworld, one in the waking world. It’s an artful, wordless reminder that love endures even through silence.
The live musicians—Harrison Polen (guitar), Isaak Metzler (drums), and Taz Libson (keyboard)—deserve their own ovation. Their underscoring breathes through the performance, acting as a heartbeat, a storm, a whisper, a roar. Lighting by Ben McElroy helps sculpt the emotional tone with washes of blue mimicking oceanic tides, and a ripple effect that turns the simple black-box theatre into something mythic.
Evil Eye Productions may be a new player in the DFW theatre scene, but they’ve set their sights high. Formed by SMU students, the company’s mission to create ambitious, affordable theatre with talent drawn from multiple artistic fields feels evident in every element of this show. From student actors mentored by Muscato to the bold fusion of ancient form with contemporary skill, Odysseus and Penelope feels like a promise of more to come.
It’s always a treat to see the Greek mythology you barely used in high school come to life onstage—and to realize, with a smile, that it actually stuck. These myths endure because they speak to us across time. This production does too. It reminds us that love, loss, and homecoming never go out of style.
WHEN: July 18-26, 2025
WHERE: Addison Performing Arts Centre, 15650 Addison Rd. Addison, TX
TICKETS: 214-535-1400
