PENELOPE

Four men will hang out in speedos around a BBQ in an empty swimming pool in Siren Theatre Company’s Sydney premiere of Penelope.

It’s not your average retelling of Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, explains director Kate Gaul.

“You don’t really have to know the mythic story to understand the play – it’s a framework, it’s very contemporary,” Gaul says.

“The play is also a critique of the GFC, and it’s got quite a European perspective.”

Written by critically-acclaimed Irish playwright Enda Walsh, Penelope tells the story of four suitors, aged in their 50s, who have vied for the love of an ageless Penelope for 30 years.

Darkly humorous farcical elements and “breathtaking” vaudevillian moments will typify Gaul’s execution of the play, to be held in a completely reconfigured Tap Gallery.

“I think it’s going to be pretty funny and pretty confronting actually. I hope that visually it’s very beautiful,” she says.

With a cast including Thomas Campbell, Branden Christine, Philip Dodd, Nicolas Hope and Arky Michael, Gaul says she is excited to bring Walsh’s richly textured script to Sydney audiences for the first time. (EJ)

Sep 12-Oct 6, Tap Gallery Upstairs Theatre, 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst, $33, sirentheatreco.com

BY EMILY JONES

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