Anyone familiar with Homer's "The Odyssey," will come in familiar with how "Penelope," a new play at St. Ann's Playhouse in Brooklyn, inevitably plays out. Odysseus comes home, angered to find that his house has been turned into a den of licentious squalor and proceeds to massacre every one of Penelope's paramours.
"Penelope" differs from the traditional story-telling which paints the bachelors as unsympathetic villains. Instead it portrays them as sympathetic, multifaceted and ultimately tragic in their masculine pride. The play is written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and presented by Druid Theatre Company. It received the first award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. St. Ann's marks the American premiere.
The play takes place, not in mythical Greece, but in a modern house, with a drained pool, where four suitors are the last fighting for the perennially unseen and silent Penelope (Olga Wehrly), speaking to her through a microphone and a video camera.
"Penelope" differs from the traditional story-telling which paints the bachelors as unsympathetic villains. Instead it portrays them as sympathetic, multifaceted and ultimately tragic in their masculine pride. The play is written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and presented by Druid Theatre Company. It received the first award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. St. Ann's marks the American premiere.
The play takes place, not in mythical Greece, but in a modern house, with a drained pool, where four suitors are the last fighting for the perennially unseen and silent Penelope (Olga Wehrly), speaking to her through a microphone and a video camera.
The men are Burns (Tadhg Murphy), the youngest and most idealistic, Quinn (Karl Shiels), the alpha leader of the group, Fitz (Niall Buggy), the oldest of the group, and Dunne (Denis Conway), a romantic with a penchant for leopard print.
The clock is winding down to Odysseus' return and the men are aware of this and of their eventual fate. Knowing that, the viewer is tempted to ask, "Well, why don't they just leave?" In the face of almost certain death isn't flight the most realistic, nay human, action? In that aspect, the play can be seen as a cautionary tale against pride and the fool's errand. Because there is no redemption to be found in pride and ignorance.
That is "Penelope's" most powerful realization but also its weakest. As such, it presents the situation as removed from true reality and can instead be seen as a parable rather than a true story.
These men do not live in any real world, though they lounge in speedos and gulp down martinis. Instead, they are characters in their own epic tale, because that is where they find fulfillment and the task at hand makes them feel like heroes. And in this reality, men make grandiose, overly verbose monologues of love for one woman.
"In the end, love is all," Dunne says. Simple, heartfelt and moments like that is beautiful in its treatment of language. It's a resurgence of that which is sometimes lost in modern theater, language and the power of words, spoken with passion and verve.
The actors do well in their roles, at ease with each other and natural in their performance. Buggy and Murphy are gripping in their monologues, which are simple in words but the meaning can be felt down to the viewer's core.
Conway provides the much needed dose of comic relief in his humorous monologue, giving a performance that is inane but filled with personality. And Shiels shifts masterfully from being the most antagonistic to giving an ovation-worthy wordless performance that involves lightning-fast costume changes and some cross-gender role-playing.
The end of "Penelope" is fast-moving and powerful, but only because it's a burst of shock against the sea-like lull that had occupied the entire play. There is a lesson to be learned and the only condition is to listen. Which may be tough for viewers looking for a traditional storyline but not for those who have a penchant for language.
Details
What: "Penelope"
When: through Nov. 14
Where
St. Ann's Warehouse
38 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 254-8779
The clock is winding down to Odysseus' return and the men are aware of this and of their eventual fate. Knowing that, the viewer is tempted to ask, "Well, why don't they just leave?" In the face of almost certain death isn't flight the most realistic, nay human, action? In that aspect, the play can be seen as a cautionary tale against pride and the fool's errand. Because there is no redemption to be found in pride and ignorance.
That is "Penelope's" most powerful realization but also its weakest. As such, it presents the situation as removed from true reality and can instead be seen as a parable rather than a true story.
These men do not live in any real world, though they lounge in speedos and gulp down martinis. Instead, they are characters in their own epic tale, because that is where they find fulfillment and the task at hand makes them feel like heroes. And in this reality, men make grandiose, overly verbose monologues of love for one woman.
"In the end, love is all," Dunne says. Simple, heartfelt and moments like that is beautiful in its treatment of language. It's a resurgence of that which is sometimes lost in modern theater, language and the power of words, spoken with passion and verve.
The actors do well in their roles, at ease with each other and natural in their performance. Buggy and Murphy are gripping in their monologues, which are simple in words but the meaning can be felt down to the viewer's core.
Conway provides the much needed dose of comic relief in his humorous monologue, giving a performance that is inane but filled with personality. And Shiels shifts masterfully from being the most antagonistic to giving an ovation-worthy wordless performance that involves lightning-fast costume changes and some cross-gender role-playing.
The end of "Penelope" is fast-moving and powerful, but only because it's a burst of shock against the sea-like lull that had occupied the entire play. There is a lesson to be learned and the only condition is to listen. Which may be tough for viewers looking for a traditional storyline but not for those who have a penchant for language.
Details
What: "Penelope"
When: through Nov. 14
Where
St. Ann's Warehouse
38 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 254-8779
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