Robert Bowman, the actor playing Odysseus in the Bristol Old Vic's forthcoming production was interviewed by IC Wales.

I was intending to book for this play, but now I'm not so sure.

"In this production Odysseus is found on the beach by interrogation officers patrolling for asylum seekers," reveals Bowman. "They assume he's a shipwrecked asylum seeker and incarcerate him.

"It's while he's imprisoned that his tale unfolds and it becomes clear that the soldier's position is at odds with the other prisoners. They're seeking asylum but all Odysseus wants is to go home to his wife."

Since Nausicaa is my favourite Odyssey character, I take it hard that she is being replaced by 'interrogation officers'.

Following hard on the 'version' of Bacchae at the main theatre, this play in the studio theatre seems to be following the same philosophy, that you can't present the Classics straight. I think you can - or at any rate a lot straighter than this.

Thanks to David Meadows and 'Explorator' for putting me on to this.