It’s called “An Iliad.”

It’s not “The Iliad.”

“An Iliad,” through Aug. 1, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, and streaming online, is much more.

In the one-person performance by Greg Wood, it’s transcendent.

A key scene is when Wood (The Poet) recites a litany of the names of presumably all of the wars in human history.

Wood enunciates the wars deliberately, slowly and sensitively, pausing ever so briefly for effect.

The effect is devastating. You could hear the quiet drop in the Labuda theater when “An Iliad,” in its Lehigh Valley premiere, was seen July 24 for this review.

“An Iliad,” by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, is based on Homer’s “The Iliad,” translated by Robert Fagles.

“The Iliad,” an ancient Greek epic poem which is attributed to Homer, was written circa 8th century BC and, along with Homer’s “Odyssey,” is among the oldest works of Western literature.

“An Iliad” proves to be the very definition of a tour de force performance. Wood is up to the challenge.

Wood enters the stage to a loud percussive sound and is silhouetted by stark white light emanating from a doorway. It’s as if Wood is the storyteller traveling through time to tell us a tale of woe, which is our tale of woe, which is humanity’s tale of woe.

Wood is stage center on the bare stage (the “Ghost Light” is left on), which has a scaffold, a table, and the theater’s unadorned back wall as its setting.

To the audience right on a stage tower is Liz Filios (The Muse), composer and sound designer for the production.

Filios plays all manner of interesting instruments, in empathy and counterpoint to the storyteller and other characters in the 90-minute (with no intermission) play, which is directed by Wood.

Not only is the set stark, the monologue is stark and often gut-churning in the detailed description of man’s inhumanity to man. Those familiar with Ancient Greek history know the details, which do not have to be repeated here.

How anyone can memorize the amount of monologue that Wood delivers effortlessly as if doing a play-by-play of a sports competition is beyond me. It’s nothing short of Homeric, or more aptly, Olympian.

Costumes are coordinated by Rebecca Callan. Lighting designer is Alyssandra Docherty.

“An Iliad” stretches the boundaries of theater itself, as well as the performance practices of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Wood gives a profound performance of a profound play about a profoundly disturbing subject. War is the ultimate tragedy of the human condition.

Tickets: www.pashakespeare.org; 610.282.WILL [9455]