Timothy Edward Kane Photo by Michael Brosilow

The ancient relationship between storytelling and theatre is brilliantly reimagined in the Court Theatre's production of An Iliad, by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare (translation by Robert Fagles) and directed by Charles Newell. Following in the lyrical footsteps of Thespis, the story of Homer's Iliad is singularly recalled by The Poet, expertly portrayed by Timothy Edward Kane. The 90-minute show is a tour-de-force for Kane, who weaves his bellicose tale through the lens of a witness to the horrors of war, someone who may have been a soldier himself and, whatever his involvement, embodies a war-weary trauma that resurfaces and shapes his recounting of the events of battle between the Greeks and Trojans. Nevertheless, the Homeric highlights of the Trojan War are all covered in An Iliad–the years-long conflict, Agamemnon's forceful taking of Briseis from Achilles, the Trojans' embattled push against the Greeks led by Hector, the death of Patroclus while wearing Achilles's armor, and Hector's bloody end at the hands of Achilles. The play eschews the well-known Trojan Horse ending to the conflict, but that does little to diminish the key message of the story–that war is hell.

Acting as our Thespian storyteller, Kane pulls no punches. His descriptions of the conflict are graphic and gripping. His body and voice carry the tense readiness of a soldier who no longer finds any moment of respite, whose sleep is defined as the cursory hope that battle will remain in abatement long enough to let the terror subside before encountering it again at the onset of daylight. No real rest ever comes. At times, the effort of Kane's performance is palpable as he works to physically represent larger-than-life figures like Achilles or Hector. His voice breaks as memories flood back before words reach his mouth. He stumbles over his thoughts as he gets lost in the pangs of the conflict while feeling the weight and responsibility of carrying the story forward for us. The Poet carries with him not only the memory of the war, but also its effects, swinging between an amazed respect for the superhuman heroism of its major characters and the heinous horrors that always accompany killing in the name of a supposedly righteous cause. Like the Greek tragic playwright, Aeschylus, who served as a soldier against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis, Kane's portrayal of The Poet presents the dehumanizing cost of pulling morality from the manufactured mortality brought by war–a bellicose bartering Kane breathlessly delivers while recounting the list of named conflicts that have occurred in human history since the Trojan War.

The timing of Court Theatre's production of An Iliad is particularly poignant. Global conflicts seem to arise daily under this current U.S. presidential administration, treated with flippancy by so-called leaders who have never experienced what The Poet brings to bear in his retelling of a war that is often upheld as the "glorious" beginning of Western culture. An Iliad challenges that notion by at once affirming our memory of the events we enjoy about the Trojan War while also presenting how those events manifest for those who survived the conflict and must forever serve as its witness.

Alongside Kane's expert storytelling, the set, lighting, and sound design (by Todd Rosenthal, Keith Parham, and Andre Pluess, respectively) all work in concert to capture the depths of an inhumane reality in which The Poet finds himself after the events of war. The space represents the psyche of The Poet as familiar, yet derelict and damaged. Nevertheless, it serves to conjure up the sensorial experiences of a war-torn mind in the act of reliving and recounting the triumphs and traumas of conflict.

Rarely has a work of ancient Greek history felt as relevant and powerful as this show. An Iliad is one of the most original, unsettling, and necessary works of ancient storytelling presented for a world that has seemingly forgotten how far we are supposed to have come from our war-torn past.

An Iliad runs June 29, 2025, at the Court Theatre, 5535 S Ellis Ave, Chicago IL. Performances are Wednesday-Sunday at 7:30pm with additional matinee showings at 2:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. For ticket and information, please visit courttheatre.org or call the box office at 773-753-4472.