Dr. Joseph Mercier - PopOdyssey

Overview

‘The start of a journey
at the end of a war.
In a world of fake lips, telling fake news
in deep fake utopias,
where gods mix with mortals
disguised as tastemakers’’

PopOdyssey, is a new full length play with dance, which reimagines Homer’s Odyssey through a contemporary queer and pop cultural lens, written and directed by Dr. Joseph Mercier, with final year BA students from NSCD. The project continued my exploration into queer adaptations, exploring how existing classical narratives can be reconfigured for contemporary century audiences using dance, text and interdisciplinary theatre practices. The research culminated in the creation of a full-length production that toured to five venues across Yorkshire, including Harrogate Theatre, Sheffield University Performance Venues/EnableUs, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, York Theatre Royal and Old Woollen in Leeds.   A key outcome of the project is a draft of a full length playscript.

Approach

Play summary: PopOdyssey is a new play with dance that collides ancient Greece with modern pop culture. It is a high energy reworking of Homer’s Odyssey, told through text, storytelling and movement.   Set in a world that blends ancient Greek with modern life, it tells the story of a young woman, Telemachus, in search of her father, Odyssey, who disappeared after The Trojan war.  As she retraces his journey, she gains new understanding about her father, herself and what it means to be a young adult trying to find one’s place in the current world of shifting realities, crisis and war.

Created in collaboration with an ensemble cast of young artists playing over 50 different characters, PopOdyssey transports audience members to a visually and sonically immersive world. PopOdyssey is both a play and a dance show: combining text and dancing, like a musical without singing or an ancient Greek themed music video. It is at times funny and irreverent, but ultimately the work is a heartfelt and moving look at what it means to be a young adult at this moment in time, ‘trying to make sense in a world that doesn’t make sense anymore.’

PopOdyssey was developed through a process of research, collaboration, and creative experimentation. The project began with exploring how Homer’s Odyssey could be queered and adapted for contemporary audiences, blending autobiography, mythology, and fiction. I aimed to connect the epic and the personal, using the story to reflect on crises of our time, including shifting relationships to truth, the rise of digital worlds, and the impact of war and extreme weather.

The text was developed for over a year, with informal readings and dramaturgical input helping to test ideas. The first staging involved the full third-year BA ensemble and took place at Leeds Corn Exchange as part of Light Night 2024. A five-week R&D period allowed us to develop a choreographic world and explore the interplay between text and movement, with audience feedback helping to shape the work.

After this, I worked with a smaller group of performers to refine storytelling, character, and representation. I collaborated with Tekitha Traniece, who played the works protagonist, to explore some of my original text being turned into spoken verse and rap, further integrating language and movement.

The project continued through a development tour across six Northern venues, in partnership with Glitterbomb Dancers and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. This stage allowed us to test the work in different spaces, audiences and further experiment with interdisciplinary practice. The process produced a full-length playtext and a production that combines text, dance, and immersive theatre, exploring what it means to be young in a world that often feels impossible to make sense of.

The paytext continues to be developed.

Learnings

A key reflection from PopOdyssey is the significant added value it offered to the BA students involved. Alongside their core dance training, the project provided extra development in voice work, text, and character, giving them the chance to perform interdisciplinary work that demanded flexibility across forms. Students also gained practical experience beyond the stage: producing and managing a tour, working in marketing and audience development, and contributing to production management, lighting design, and scenography. This hands-on training broadened their skillsets, supplementing their dance practice with a richer understanding of the wider creative and technical processes that underpin professional performance-making.