Cape Town audiences can prepare for a gripping theatrical experience as An Iliad arrives at the Baxter Flipside from 25 February to 14 March 2026. Presented by Gloucester Productions, this powerful retelling of Homer’s epic poem, adapted by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, brings ancient myth face-to-face with modern humanity.
Award-winning performer Alan Committie returns to the Baxter stage as “The Poet,” joined by composer and performer Charl-Johan Lingenfelder as The Muse. Under the direction of acclaimed theatre-maker Geoffrey Hyland, the production strips storytelling down to its raw essence: one actor, one musician, and the enduring question — why do we keep repeating the same cycles of violence?
Running for 95 minutes, the production blends narration, character shifts and live music in what promises to be an immediate, human and darkly funny theatrical experience. The minimalist design, featuring lighting by Luke Ellenbogen and costume design by Michaeline Wessels, allows the performer to move fluidly between warrior, witness and weary storyteller. A single evolving costume and a stark visual language intensify the storytelling, while the live score becomes both companion and conscience.
An Iliad is not simply a retelling of the Trojan War; it is a meditation on rage, memory and the fragile hope that history might yet teach us something. Heroes appear and vanish in a breath, and the music pulses, fractures and mourns as the story unfolds like a modern ritual.
Performances take place nightly at 19:30, with Saturday matinees at 15:00. In a world still grappling with conflict, An Iliad feels less like ancient history and more like a mirror held up to our time — urgent, relevant and deeply human.
