Suits just about everyone

The Suitors has to be the funniest play I’ve seen so far this year. I know, 2006 has just begun, but January has been chock full of international theatrical offerings, what with The Sydney Festival. But nothing I’ve seen in January has tickled my funny bone as much as The Suitors. It is definitely the most hilarious play I’ve seen in a long time. Correction - it’s the most hilarious play I’ve seen since I started reviewing Sydney theatre for The Blurb.

I’m not just talking funny, people, I’m talking the kind of laughter that wrings tears out of you. And not just once, but throughout the performance. Sure, it’s slapstick, it’s mean, it’s base and it’s all been done before. But these guys, these three stooges, have taken satire and turned the spotlight on some bit players from an ancient classic and made a meal of it. It’s a virtual free for all where nothing and nobody escapes their razor-edged, deprecating humour. Never have so few made so many laugh for so long.

The Suitors is written by Patrick Brammall and John Leary, who play Antinous and Peisander respectively. Simon Aylott, who plays Eurymachus, is the third part of the comedic triumvirate, which is supported by Zoë Carides as Queen Penelope and Boris Brkic as the beggar.

Audiences will be familiar with Zoë Carides’ stunning and award winning performance in STC’s production of David Williamson’s play Influence in 2005. Boris Brkic most recently played one of the doomed policemen in the acclaimed Australian film, The Proposition. In 2005 director Craig Ilott directed Edmond at the Seymour Centre, the visceral and compelling co-production between Albedo Theatre and B Sharp Belvoir.

The Suitors is based on the little known and, until now, ignored bit players in the story of The Odyssey. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who came up with the Trojan Horse ploy which saw the defeat of the Trojans, is missing in action. 20 years after the Trojan War he is yet to return to his kingdom. During this time, his wife, Queen Penelope, has been beset by every opportunist bachelor in Ithaca, all vying for her hand in marriage and the job of King of Ithaca. They’re a persistent lot and Queen Penelope, who has never given up hope of her husband returning, is at her wits end trying to stay their advances.

Enter stage left, right and centre, three unlikely contenders - Antinous the brawn, Peisander the brains and Eurymachus the boy. They have no lineage to stand on, but during their 6 year siege with the 105 other suitors they have formed an uneasy alliance, an unlikely friendship, neither of which will stand in the way of their ultimate goal - marrying Penelope.

When the three amigos catch Penelope out in a lie they decide to use it to blackmail her into marrying one of them.

Brammall and Leary note in the program that “there’s something so delicious about the figures that have the potential to subvert the hero’s struggle, to ruin the nobility of the quest for justice and equilibrium. In short, it’s fun to see the villains. Especially when they wear tunics.” The three suitors are certainly the complete antithesis of Homer’s this hero, Odysseus. The three suitors stand for nothing, have no moral fibre and not even one spine between them. They are coarse, childish, purile, rude, irreverent, vicious, petty, competitive braggarts and bullies with only one redeeming feature - they are outrageously funny.

The humour is a mixture of The Three Stooges and The Marx Brothers. Simon Aylott’s Eurymachus has a physical resemblance to Michael Crawford’s Frank from the hit TV comedy, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. But that’s as far as that comparison can go, because each suitor has a style all his own. If it was highschool, Antinous would be the overbearing jock, Peisander would be the brains of the outfit and Eurymachus the rank outsider, whose sensitive nature and naiveté make him the but of every joke.

The Suitors is an irreverent piss-take on the classics. If laughter is good medicine, then this show must be a cure for more than just boredom. The Suitors is a comedic feast. I highly recommend you chow down at your earliest opportunity.

Philippa Wherrett

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The Suitors

Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney
Dates: to February 18, 2006