PAWTUCKET, RI — In “An Iliad,” which received both the Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards for its 2012 off-Broadway production, playwrights Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare offer a compressed, updated and highly engaging take on Homer’s nearly 3,000 works . Epic poem of 15,693 lines titled “Iliad”.

The poem depicts key events that occurred during the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy (located in present-day Turkey) by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states. Chief among these is the murder of Achilles’ best friend Patroclus by the Trojan prince Hector, and Hector’s subsequent murder by the vengeful Achilles, the greatest of all Greek warriors.

For centuries scholars have debated whether the work is a pro- or anti-war epic, as both the glory and sorrow of war are explored in such complete and startling detail.

There is no such ambiguity in Peterson and O’Hare’s theatrical 100-minute, uninterrupted adaptation, which begins with a tired, exasperated everyone entering the performance space. We quickly learn that he is a fluid storyteller of time, destined to repeat the story of the Trojan War until the day when humanity’s addiction to anger ends and remembering the cruelty of war becomes unnecessary.

Burbage Theater Co. From this narration in the scene, it is understood that this day has not come yet.

The script offers a comprehensive, exhausting chronology of wars spanning centuries, dating back to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The play also touches on the perspective of women living outside of Homer’s classic story: pious wives grieving the loss of their husbands, heartbroken mothers grieving the death of their sons, powerless sex slaves, and sadly misguided goddesses. Humanity’s unwavering attraction to war and its consequences are unwavering themes run throughout this play.

Despite the reduced title and the short duration of the play, “An Iliad” is not a work in the style of “The Iliad”. The dense source material, its sublime and lavish verbiage, and its poetic rhythms—albeit filtered through Robert Fagles’ accessible translation—are still quite evident.

But all of this is told through a modern prism, offering contemporary examples to help explain ancient references, just as Homer used analogy in his storytelling.

And it’s all told by Grammy-winning storyteller Bill Harley as The Poet and master instrumentalist Cathy Clasper-Torch on cello and violin as The Muse.

Harley wins you over from the start when her wind-blown character suddenly bursts through the large wooden door in the back brick wall, wearing an old coat, a hat pulled down over her expressive eyes and carrying a well-worn bag. It is overflowing with old documents. Harley walks towards us, squints as if assessing our worth, closes her eyes as if gathering energy, and begins to tell her story. in Ancient Greek, which he soon abandoned, ashamed of this carelessness, indicating that he shared the same heritage and perhaps the same time period as Homer.

Harley’s passionate dedication to this powerful work of performance art is riveting. And his storytelling skills, facilitated by Jeff Church’s masterful direction, are fascinating.

Production designer Trevor Elliott is called upon to do only light lifting here, as this production’s sparse staging – which merely resembles the back storage room of an old tavern – is constructed to keep all eyes on Harley at all times. Isolating lighting used selectively and consciously adds excitement to important moments.

So does Clasper-Torch’s cello, which turns to Mark Bennett’s improvisation rather than the score submitted for licensing by the game’s publisher. His engaging playing on the violin, which contributes higher frequencies and a more intense vibrato, adds layers to the theatricality of this production.

Although Clasper-Torch is great to underline and accompany, his primary function as muse is missing. There is not enough give and take with the Poet, and there are moments in the play where his play would have been better served to encourage or support the Poet’s painful and reluctant efforts to tell his story. The presentation of this comprehensive list of human conflicts would be an ideal place for the Poet to flounder and for the Muse to provide musical support and guidance.

This production of “An Iliad” is, in many ways, a master class in making canonical literary works engaging and relevant to theater audiences. I wish our middle school selves had this show as an option for having to complete required reading.

AN ILIAD

Played by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare. Directed by Jeff Church. Through Nov. 24 at Burbage Theater Co., 59 Blackstone Ave., Pawtucket, RI. Tickets are $30 including fees. 401-484-0355, burbageheatre.org.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who previously wrote for the Austin Chronicle. connect with him on Facebook.