Henner Kallmeyer

Nausikaa, a modern-day girl, stumbles upon a mysterious stranger on the beach. He claims that he is the legendary Odysseus, who is still looking for the way home. The girl doesn't believe a word he says, of course. He can tell her a lot, she thinks. And Odysseus does. He tells her about the war against Troy and about his trick with the Trojan horse. ("Should really be called Odysseus' horse.") He tells of his wanderings across the sea and of the encounters he had along the way.
Nausikaa becomes part of the story. As a soldier, she sits around the campfire outside Troy. As a sailor she becomes a victim of the sirens, as Circe she turns Odysseus' crew into pigs. The adventures of Odysseus are exciting, funny and dangerous. But Nausikaa does not just let herself be drawn in. Odysseus has to justify his decisions: Is it really necessary to disturb the Cyclops? Why did the ancient Greeks actually have so many gods? And does Odysseus really believe that his wife is simply waiting for him after all these years? The play becomes a dialogue with the myth. What actually makes a hero, Nausikaa asks herself. Or a heroine?

The Adventures of Ulysses was created as a commissioned work for the Bremerhaven City Theater which could only be performed digitally in 2021, due to the pandemic.