A savage, tragicomic take on the classic Greek myth of Penelope, wife of Odysseus, whose story is recounted in Homer’s Odyssey.
It’s 11.30 a.m. and already it’s thirty-three degrees Celsius. At the bottom of a drained swimming pool, four ridiculous men face their inevitable deaths, and play for an unwinnable love.
Enda Walsh’s play Penelope was first performed by Druid Theatre Company in Druid Lane Theatre at the Galway Arts Festival in July 2010. The production subsequently toured to Edinburgh (where it won a Fringe First Award), Helsinki and New York. A version of the play in German had previously been performed at Theater Oberhausen, Germany, in February 2010.
‘Mixes classical myth with a bit of Beckett, as interpreted by Father Ted after watching an episode of Lost‘
— Sunday Times
‘Extraordinary theatre… terrifying’
— Sunday Independent, Ireland
‘Among the finest plays Walsh has written’
— Sunday Times, Ireland
‘A wild, crazy, word-drunk piece that is destined to lodge in the memory… Walsh possesses a truly original theatrical voice’
— Guardian
Edinburgh Fringe First Award
