A bleak black comedy about the end of a relationship.
The Platypus is a strange creature. It’s composed of odds and ends, as though Evolution got tired one afternoon and stopped paying attention to what it was doing. It seems wrong. Strangely put together. A curiosity.
Just like this play.
This play is about Richard and Jessica. About the messy ending of their relationship and whether they can put the pieces back together. Multiple genres, two actors, one audience… and possibly a platypus.
Written and directed by well-known Australian actor Francis Greenslade (Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, Winners and Losers, The Odd Couple, Shakespeare in Love) and performed by John Leary (The Good Place, Glitch, The Letdown, Upper Middle Bogan) and Rebecca Bower (The Spooky Files, Offspring, Wentworth), The Platypus brings together an outstanding team of cast and creatives. Running for a limited premiere season at Theatre Works in St Kilda, mark this one on your calendars – it’s not to be missed!
Widely recognised, actor, writer, and teacher Francis Greenslade has had an extensive career in the Australian entertainment industry. In 2018 his adaptation of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist (produced by the Sydney Theatre Company) received rave reviews and his book, How I Learnt to Act (On the way to not going to Drama School), was published by Currency Press in 2020. Playing as a part of the ‘With Theatre Works’ programming stream, The Platypus is his first original work for the theatre.
Constantly reinvigorating and reimagining the sector by providing a hotbed for artist and audience development, Theatre Works is one of Australia’s longest-running independent theatres. They fill a vital niche in the Australian cultural landscape as an artistic home and destination for artists to collaborate and create, actively highlighted by the 12 different productions playing as a part of the 2024 ‘With Theatre Works’ programming stream.
