Introduction
This is a story of a group of four very ridiculous men who face their untimely, yet inevitable deaths locking horns chasing after another man’s wife. They are the last remaining of 100 suitors each vying for Penelope’s hand. They posture, preen, and drink engaging in a ludicrous ritual of competition and courting. As the day wears on, the signs of her husband’s arrival become more ominous. While contemporary authors are more interested in the war stories, this is a different perspective, which focuses on Penelope and the servant women who surround her. She is the lovely wife of King Odysseus who went off to fight the Trojan War. The question thus is whether she will accept the inevitability of her husband’s death or Odysseus will return miraculously, reclaiming his throne and his wife.
As the Penelope- Odysseus legend goes, Odysseus went to war for ten years and after this spent another ten years trying to get up. During this time, 100 suitors set out, camped attempting to charm, and woo his wife, Penelope. Edna Walsh introduces the rumble production of Penelope. In Edna’s version, she presents highly literate take andan absurd piece. It highlights four men who are camped at Penelope’s swimming pool. The one act set ruminates on love and life in a very Lonesco or Becket kind of language. The beautiful and silent Penelope periodically activates a massive spotlight on one chosen man as he pontificates desperately and vigorously as she watches on a huge screen.
The beginning of the play introduces the four men Burns, Fitz, Quinn, and Dunne. They dwell in an empty swimming pool in her estate. Burns, a character played with earnestness, is trying to scrub off blood from the wall. The oddity of the scene is in the fact that they seem to live in this swimming pool, complete with drinks trolley, a barbecue, a CCTV camera, and a stereo. On the stage, the production is nothing short of gorgeous as this decrepit pool and the raised lounge area on which Penelope sits is so wondrously detailed. The characters in the set are in a post-modern scenario. Their presentation is that of 21st century men with the accoutrements of todaycaught up in a classical plot. They spend their day in flip-flops and bathing suits in a completely empty, yet somewhat disgusting pool. The pool is an excellent design drawn by Drew Facey, which is smeared with blood and some other unidentifiable fluids. In this time they are posturing, arguing and insulting each other as they fear the return of a very brutal Odysseus. Penelope remains a shadowy figure who sits half hidden in a high place above the pool.
The director, Walsh does a great job in differentiating his characters. Dunne is a flabby character who is pompous and overly confident. He remains this way until Penelope’s last rejection reduces him and his attitude as he says, “to a fat man in a speedo.” (Play) Fitz is an old man who reads Homer. He philosophizes about the existence of a comforting world filled with nothingness. Quinn, who is an ‘alpha-male’, refers to himself as a ‘serious ninja.’ His theory in getting Penelope is through embracing the ethic “survival-for-the-fittest.” He mocks liberal humanitarianism saying that it sometimes rears its head in others. He is hard on Burns, whom the older men treat like a servant. However, Burn keeps his idealism spirit alive and still believes in friendship and love.
Given that, the suitors raging from a fidgety scholar to a macho muscle flexor are all involved in what is but a hopeless quest; this play takes on a satirical tone taking one on men’s competitive ego. Although the play is somewhat slippery, it comes alive theoretically through the play writers amazing way with words. In one speech which is delivered by an ageing and drug-addled Fitz, he offers Penelope a mesmerizing vision of many half-truths of a supposed real world from someone who has left it. Niall Buggay who plays the part excellently turns it from a show of lyrical desperation to a touching declaration of his love.
These three men show a self-important penchant and ruthless competitiveness for ridiculous philosophizing. Walsh provides each of them with their fair share of juicy, witty verbiage. While holding a discussion on what they would do to evade Odysseus’ anger and wrath, Burns answers with a Latin motto which is translated to mean “it doesn’t matter, we are but meat on a barbecue”
Walsh’s lust for language is visibly stronger and clearer than his dramatic impetus. However, the 90-minute piece stimulates the nervous system constantly. The MikelMurfi Theatre production ends in a bizarre climax where Karl Shiels and the self-styled and mighty Quinn performs a brilliant quick-change act where he impersonates the legendary lovers from Josephine and Napoleon to Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler. He strips to his Toga emulating Eros, who is the ‘Greek God of Love’. It is at this point that Burns stabs him. Burns then makes his last address to Penelope arguing for their redemption through human affection and love. He concludes his love-stricken speech with “love is saved.” At this point, “the barbecue goes up in flames. Their dream is predicted. It begins from its legs quickly spreading to the rest of the flame and grill” (Penelope) this signals the death of the men. Above them, Penelope is withdrawing from the stage heading into’ “her new future.” This play, however indefinable in its meaning, proves Walsh’s great and original theatrical voice.
Burns is weak and hangs on to the idea that the world and the people in it have not changed. This is a portrayal of his unwillingness to accept his current situation, which is frustrating. His speech about love, a deep and everlasting love was not referring to her love for he r husband. Rather, it was about a renewed love for humankind and for one another, which has since disappeared. Penelope extends her hand to him as if she has finally chosen him. The question is, whether she was actually choosing Burns for love, or that she had merely given up on her husband’s return. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the sight of her husband’s approaching ship stops her. The men have to accept their inevitable fate.
Conclusion
Directed by Stephen Drover, Penelope is an all too familiar tale, which reveals the extreme measures people will go to do in the quest for love as well as what people are willing to do chasing after power. It is a truthful and humorous play. Though it does not have a definite stand on loyalty and love, it is a stimulating and captivating comedy.
