is Christopher Logue’s sprawling, cinematic account of the Iliad, that is almost fifty years in the making, and has been described as “one of the major achievements of postwar English poetry” (Paris Review). This production centers on the conflicts between the Greek king, Agamemnon, and its fiercest warrior, Achilles, in the ninth year of the siege at Troy. With the Greek army encamped outside the walls of Troy, these two vainglorious figures clash over a captured woman. Achilles’ bruised honor, the exhaustion of battle and disease among the troops all combine against the Greek war effort, but the gods’ intervention ensures that the campaign survives, culminating in a fierce assault on Troy.

More than twenty characters, Greeks, Trojans and Immortals, will be acted by two actors in contemporary dress, allowing the audience to focus on Mr. Logue’s savage invocation of a world of terrible beauty and pain. The production was developed by Verse Theater Manhattan, which is devoted exclusively to verse dramas, primarily stage adaptations of works by leading poets, and styles itself after Poets Theater Cambridge of the 50′s.