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Comments & Reviews Eldon Quick is a
treasure. He is the closest thing that we have in modern times to the Homeridae,
putatively descended from the poet himself, who made a profession of
performing The Iliad and The Odyssey at public festivals in the
various poleis of ancient Greece. In listening to and in thereby
participating in his performance, I fully understood for the first time
why Plato's Socrates suggested to the rhapsode Ion that, when he recited
Homer, there "was a divinity moving" him, .... In Eldon
Quick's hands, The Iliad comes alive and displays its power as it
never has since the end of the classical world. Your performance was energetic and engaging, and manifested your love and appreciation for one of the greatest works in the Western canon. Your dramatization made the Iliad come alive for our students and faculty. You remind us that Homer is really about people, passionate and
flawed, who collide tragically-- that is, Homer is about life. You can
do more to revitalize ancient literature than any 100 scholarly
monographs. First let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed your performance.... you truly made it live in the here and now. And that you did that successfully was evident among my students. They were awed by your ability to memorize the multitude of lines, they were surprised thatat they liked Book I so much better than when they had read it and they loved the characterizations -- they could see Agamemnon and Nestor and all the others. ... there were 58 students in the 13 - 14 year-old age range in the audience. Not only did they behave (which is sometimes all we can hope for) but they wre interested, their attention captured by your gift and by the warmth they felt from you as a performer. It was bovious to all of them that you wanted to do more than perform; you wanted to engage them and they responded to your message. The most memorable aspect was overall just the distinct portrayals of each character. It kept the performance from dragging, and really brought the characters to life with different mannerisms, voices, tones, facial expressions, stances. The idea of performing the Iliad had seemed really weird before I saw the performance (I thought it was probably going to be cheesy, and either very boring or too overdone), but afterwards, it seemed the most natrual, original, and probably the best, way to present the story. It was funnier and more human than the movie Troy ever was. Everybody should be exposed to Homer through this medium. The most memorable part would have to be the god scene. Quick gave a humorous flair to the gods, makingthem sem very imperfect and human-like. This was especeally true with the fight between Zeus and Hera. When Quick was Zeus imitating Hera it was hilarious, they seemed to fight just like an old married couple on a sitcom. It wa good that he made the god scene humorous because it's consistent with the fact that the gods are flawed and that they don't take life seriously because of their power. It was also good comedic relief after a long period of seriousness. He didn't just recite the poetry beautifully -- he acted it too. He didn't just act the character -- he was the character speaking. And he did it so that we were not just spectators; by his acting we were, for a few minutes, people in the Iliad too. The finest recitation by the finest live actor I have had the honor to meet. Mr. Quick is a fine example of why live theater has endured through millennia. I wish everyone were this good at interpreting classical literature. We would like to thank you for such a wonderful presentation of the
Iliad for our Grand Circle Group while touring in Greece this year.
The Characters you portrayed revived the ancient heroes native to this
land that you visited. Your interpretation of this fine old classic was outstanding! You
took us to Ancient Greece and let us mingle with the Gods and mortals
- it was great fun and we all enjoyed the time with you. Our members said "Bravo" and are asking when you can give
us an encore.
Eldon, your presentation was awesome! You had me rapture throughout. What a marvelous performance! I thought it was grand. It must be delivered in such style. I was spellbound. I rolled with the story and followed intensely. I
will never forget tonight. Mesmerizing. The Performance was excellent even if I didn’t know the story.
Very good Eldon, I was surprised and pleased. Very well done. I can tell that Eldon had a lot of fun in thinking
through how to portray each of the various characters. It makes me
want to reread the stories! Very entertaining. Excellent! Eldon gave life and force to each character. Enjoyed it. Loved the facial changes slipping into some of the
characters more than others. Exciting. Great control of the audience. Excellent portrayal of
characters. Smooth transition from one to another. Good performance, amazing being on the floor close to the audience,
gives you a feeling of being part of the performance. A major theatrical and artistic contribution and achievement. I believe your performance also taught us more about how history
and legend was passed along in ancient days. The bard, in this case
Homer, played an important part in preserving historic tales. Also,
like any good actor, your presentation of characters can sway the
emotions and sympathies of your listeners. |
