A four hour re-telling, over two evenings, of the two mighty Homeric tales.

These stories have a cast of characters whose shadows have stretched across the European imagination for three thousand years: Helen, cursed by her beauty; Achilles, the archetypal flawed hero; Cassandra, destined to see the future but to be believed by no-one; Odysseus, the quick-witted survivor against all the odds……characters whose destinies are driven by the all consuming force-fields of the Olympian Gods.

The Iliad.
The story of the siege and fall of Troy is as contemporary now as it has ever been. It is an extraordinary account of the testosterone-charged energy of war, with its savagery and mad ecstasy. It explores questions of nationalism (one sides triumphant moments of victory are another sides atrocities), of grief (Achilles’ mourning of Patroclus, Priam’s mourning of Hector), of divine indifference, human frailty and the destructive and redemptive faces of love.

The Odyssey.
The story of Odysseus’ ten year journey from Troy describes the systematic stripping away of a hero’s wealth and warrior bravado until, at last, he returns home ‘alone, unknown and under a strange sail’. Buffeted by the Fates, helped by indomitable owl-eyed Athene, Odysseus’ voyage is the journey of Everyman from the cock-sureness of youth into the wisdom of age, from male ego into feminine mystery.
These compulsive performances, by two of Britain’s leading storytellers, are true to the momentum of a rattling good tale, the wry humour and poetic reflection, and the profound human observation of the Homeric vision. They are aimed at an adult audience and are not suitable for anyone under twelve.

Each performance lasts approximately two hours.

The Odyssey and the Iliad can be booked separately (each is a performance in its own right) for a single evening, or together over two consecutive evenings.

The fee for each performance is £750 plus travel and accommodation.

The fee for both is £1400 plus travel and accommodation.



Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden are leading exponents of the art of storytelling. They have performed at many theatres and festivals over the last few years including The Barbican, The National Theatre, The Voice-Box, The British Museum, The Hay Festival, Oslo Storytelling Festival, Beyond the Border Festival, Symphony Space (New York) and the Bath Literature Festival.


What the Press have said:

“… I went to the Barbican the other day to listen to two of Britain’s finest storytellers – Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden – recounting the Iliad, the tale of that great quarrel from which all western literature springs. The seats were uncomfortable… but the hours flew by. These two men had to do no more than tap into the ancient power of the spoken word to hold an entire audience in their thrall. A veil of typescript fell from my eyes.

I saw Helen in all her intoxicating beauty standing amid the bloody chunks of a slaughtered stallion. I saw Achilles aglitter in gold armour before his black ranks of Myrmidons. I saw banquets and voyages, armies and oceans, battling heroes and ravening gods – all conjured out of thin air by a voice. Film is often thought to be a threat to literature. But the images that billowed and faded in that darkened auditorium were quite different from those that unspool across a screen. I could put my hands in front of my face and the pictures would not vanish. They were inside me. They belonged to me. They were part of the history of the whole of human life.” Rachel Campbell Johnson, The Times, March 2005.