Funeral Games

Written and Directed by John Jahnke

Performance Workshop

The Public Theater, New York City, 2004

The mordant and topical play with music, inspired by an episode of Homer’s The Iliad, explores the equivocal relationship between the warrior Achilles and his favorite Patroclus, during the epic Trojan War. Pursued by a trio of Furies to reenter a war he never believed in, Achilles infuriates his demonic tormentors by refusing to make this essential decision. Originally presented in performance workshop form at the Neumann at The Public Theater, the highly stylized work, with an emphasis on tableau, is currently in-development for a late 2009 premiere in New York City.