“Purgatory is a swimming pool…” teases Penelope, the latest production showing at the Queen Mary's Royal Theater. Written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, Penelope takes a page from Homer's Odyssey and follows the story of four men attempting to romance a beautiful woman while her husband, Odysseus, is away. The kicker, here, is that the entire play is staged in a drained pool, the four men ambling about, attempting to woo Penelope, who stands, unseen, on the platform above. There's a mysterious blood stain on the wall, apparently from a fifth man who took his life the day before—and a BBQ that, if lit, signals the death of the men at the hands of the returning Odysseus. It's a weird, quirky take on the most classic of classics—and a surreal treat for the avid theater-goer.
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: Nov. 8. Continues through Dec. 7, 2013
