THE spring season at the Maltings Arts Theatre opens with a version of The Odyssey, one of the first great adventure yarns (writes Steve Murray).

Two of Britain's leading storytellers, Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden, tell the story of Odysseus on his epic ten-year voyage from Troy as he is systematically stripped of all his wealth and warrior bravado until he returns home alone and unknown.

Buffeted by the fates and helped by the indomitable "owl-eyes" Athene, goddess of war and wisdom, Odysseus' voyage is the journey of everyman from the cocksureness of youth into the wisdom of age.

The performance moves between high adventure, wry humour and poetic reflection in a virtuoso rendering that brings the ancient world into sharp contemporary focus.

Lupton is a founder member, with Ben Heggarty, of the Company of Storytellers.

This has an international reputation for performances that makes the audience "see with its ears".

The show is not suitable for children under 12.

Tickets cost £6.50 from the box office on 01727 844222.

Next week, violinist Adam Summerhayes and his wife, pianist Catherine Summerhayes, will perform a programme centred around a Sonata written by the French composer Maurice Ravel.

The duo will also perform Mozart's Sonata in E minor, a poignant work written after the death of his mother

They will also perform Hebrew Melody by Achron, a Hungarian Dance by Brahms and Kriesler's lovely Caprice Viennois.

Tickets cost £1.50 for both performances.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.