It begins and ends with a parent begging for the return of his child, crossing enemy lines in order to do so. This is Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, presented as part of Sydney Festival in a sovereign adaptation by actor and director William Zappa. Performed in three parts with a total runtime of nine hours, The Iliad Out Loud embraces all the joyful and bitter shades of human experience, bringing us round the campfire once again.

William Zappa in The Iliad Out Loud. Photo © Lisa Tomasetti

Drawing on 17 translations and the expertise of classicist Elizabeth Minchin, Zappa’s adaptation has been seven years in the making. Befitting its monumental nature, audiences had the choice of seeing it over three consecutive nights or the course of a day, beginning and ending at 10 o’clock. This reviewer chose the marathon option, taking a headlong plunge into a world of unremitting violence and tenderness, petty feuds and principled stands.

Although bearing sheafs of paper, Zappa (who also directs, assisted by Damien Ryan) and his fellow storytellers Blazey Best, Heather Mitchell and Socratis Otto slip in and out of Homer’s myriad characters with extraordinary facility....