The Odyssey, but make it an airport. New play turns Homer's poem into a modern epic

By modern standards, the outdoor theatre in the town of Syracuse on the southern Italy island of Sicily is historic, putting on plays under the night sky since 1914.

But the amphitheatre, with its gleaming stones carved into the hillside overlooking the port town, actually dates back much further — to some 500 years BC.

Sicily was then part of the larger Greek empire, Magna Graecia, and the theatre was one of the biggest in the world. Upwards of 10,000 spectators sat spellbound as tragedies written by Sophocles and Euripides and comedies by Aristophanes played out on the stage, the last rays of sunlight giving way to the rising moon.

That same magical experience continues today thanks to Italy's National Institute of Ancient Drama, whose productions draw sold-out crowds. And this summer for the first time, its repertoire has widened to include fresh takes on other ancient works. Among them is a new version of Homer's Odyssey called Ulysses, The Last Odyssey, a spoken-word and dance show with a hauntingly powerful soundtrack by Calgary folk-rock band Reuben and the Dark.

"This year was kind of an experiment," said Valeria Told, who took over the Institute as superintendent in May, with ambitious plans to take productions on tour globally. "To use classical text and mix it up with dance, circus, modern music and a folk-rock band."

The Last Odyssey, which ran in June and early July, is their principal test run.

Set in an airport — a present-day reinterpretation of the Greek islands where Odysseus (or Ulysses) arrives, departs from and often gets stuck in — it's a mash up of influences. These include Steven Speilberg's The Terminal, Pina Bausch choreography and Italian TV variety shows, with musical refrains from Reuben and the Dark infusing it all with yearning and a sense of foreboding.

"There's a certain sentiment across all of the songs that really suits the storylines in The Odyssey and I was kind of surprised by how I seemed to write from that character," said band frontman Reuben Bullock.

In the ancient poem, Odysseus sails triumphantly away from Troy after a 10-year siege, making his way home to Ithaca, a journey that takes another decade.  Along the way, he and his fellow warriors encounter witches, one-eyed monsters and sirens who try to lure the men to their death — a scene Bullock wrote original music for.

"You know beauty and temptation and evil and all that," he said over the phone from Calgary, where the group played as part of a Western Canada tour this summer.

Bullock says the offer to collaborate on the ancient Greek stage production came a few years after he'd tagged a post of a TV dance routine by renowned Italian theatre director and choreographer Giuliano Peparini that had used his band's song Hallelujah. The two exchanged a few messages. Then last year, Peparini reached out to ask Bullock if he'd like to do the music for his mounting of The Odyssey.

"When I listen to his music, I just have images coming out of my mind," said Peparini.

Peparini isn't the only director to be captivated by the cinematic quality of the band's music: Reuben and the Dark songs can be heard on series, movies and trailers for everything from The Handmaid's Tale, Grey's Anatomy, Resident Evil and Heartland to Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and the movie Dolittle.

Peparini said the band's emotional range and nuance were able to convey the darker, self-involved sides of hero Odysseus. "He wants to see things and lots of his companions die just for his curiosity," he said.