Scene from the play Penelope.
My cousin had an extra ticket for a Sunday afternoon show at Studio Theatre in DC near the U Street metro stop, and I always love going to the theatre when there's a chance. From time to time theaters give actors and others in the industry free tickets in order to get word out about the play. Neither of us knew anything about the play before going, but in hindsight there were some clues that the play would not be spectacular. Theaters usually give away tickets when the show starts, but this play was in its last weekend in DC. This giveaway would indicate that the play wasn't able to get any buzz in the community and couldn't sell tickets. Normally, Studio Theatre is known in DC as being a very good and prestigious venue, but this play was an exception. Still, I'm glad I went.
This play was part of Studio Theatre's festival celebrating Enda Walsh, a Dublin-born playwright who now lives in London. The theatre will also perform Walsh's The Walworth Farce in early April and The New Electric Ballroom in late April/early May. Penelope, the first play in the festival, first debuted last year after a German theatre commissioned Walsh to write a play based upon The Odyssey. Instead of writing about the more popular adventures that take place across the Mediterranean, Walsh concentrated on the men who had accomplished nothing but stayed at Odysseus' house trying to woo his wife. Over the past twenty years, the number of suitors had dwindled from over a hundred to only four, and now these men live in the bottom of a drained and dirty swimming pool while lounging around in speedos and bathrobes, presumably because Penelope wants them to play this game in order to win her heart. The swimming pool and set are shown in the photo above. Every day the suitors will give speeches to her as she watches from a tv set in a room overlooking the pool. However, last night every single man had the same dream about the grill in the pool: even though it has been broken for a while now, it suddenly ignites in order to symbolize her husband returning home in order to kill all of them. Today is their last chance to win Penelope's heart. They have to work together so that one of them woos her. The rest of the play focuses on each character's romantic monologue to her. The first character's speech is a bit too crass even though he considers himself an accomplished poet. As she walks away, he yells at her, "I have given my life to a possibility of love with you! But you have turned me into this, this notion of a man who begs! I am worthy of this house, of this prize, but you have reduced me, Penelope, to a fat man in speedos!" Each of the other characters also have their chance to win her with an eloquent speech, but then they begin to fight each other because they cannot stand letting someone else have Penelope. The dialogue then turns into a political/philosophical debate about man's character, whether or not someone can do 'good' for the right reasons. The debate between the characters sounded a bit like what I would have heard between some friends in a coffee shop in St Andrews, but the play's philosophy wasn't as well developed or as well delivered as I would have heard over lattes and teas in Scotland. Overall, there wasn't much of a plot and minimum character development.
For most people in the audience, Penelope was a huge disappointment. While leaving many said quite loudly that the play was awful, that they almost left before the end. Some people did leave early. I could see several faces that seemed to say, "Uh, did we just waste our time watching that?" Personally, it wasn't my favorite play, but I didn't hate it as much as everyone else. Then again, I didn't have to pay to see it. If I had paid full price, I'm sure I would have been upset. I do have to say that the actors' skill, the set, and the overall delivery was very good. It was the playwright's awful script that was disappointing, which makes me wonder why Studio Theatre has a whole festival dedicated to him.
This character was the closest to winning Penelope,
and his long monologue probably went on for about
10 minutes. At least it felt like that long. This was
supposed to be the first time she ever turned to face
the men in the pool, which begs the question as to
why these men were still putting up with her.
Penelope doesn't say a single word the whole play.
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