Type – Storytelling, Two-Hander, Anti-War Sentiments
If you liked – Greek Mythology, Troy (2004), Hadestown
An Iliad: This is pure art told with a masterful hand by its director, centred around a masterful performer. In short, it’s masterful.
Theatre friends! We may very well have an early contender for my favourite show of 2026. It’s ironic that I’m typing the review of Sydney Theatre Company’s An Iliad on ANZAC Day as Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare‘s adaptation of Homer‘s Iliad is one dripping with anti-war sentiment and the entrenched blood that’s seeped beneath the very ground we walk on.
Greek Mythology is an endless treasure trove of stories that can be unearthed, rinsed, recycled and told in a thousand different ways. In the end, we come back to one unshakeable element: death. It’s in the mouth of the orater that we pass these stories on from generation to generation in the hope that something may change, that perhaps one day we’ll wake up to ourselves and shake off this obsession with war, that just maybe the Gods will spare us as their play things. In director Damien Ryan‘s An Iliad, the orator charged with telling the story of war is perfectly suited to the masterful skills of David Wenham.
Wenham holds an undeniable gravitas in his very core. Looking as though he’s just walked off the final scene of 300 orating the tale of the Spartans, he enters into Charles Davis‘ bare warehouse-like designed stage of the Wharf 1 Theatre. Piece by piece Wenham’s storyteller builds the world we’re to inhabit for the next 100 minutes. Cast in shadow, he greets the audience in Greek, shaking hands and wielding a welcoming charm. From the back of the stage, he wheels in a travelling cart, a wagon of his collectables.
We’re not in any defined space or time, but a void that this storyteller is doomed to tell the same story again, and again, and again. Wenham sets up ground lighting so routinely as though he’s done this thousands of times before. Everything is methodically placed before Alexander Berlage‘s emotive and defined lighting takes over the visual storytelling to aid in Wenham’s tale of the Trojan War.
Ryan’s direction is working in absolute overdrive in An Iliad. His style is one suited to the crippling faults in man, extracting the very best from the teams he works with. There’s no other word to describe An Iliad other than stunning. It’s design? Stunning. It’s score? Stunning. It’s acting? Stunning. Ryan isn’t just serving us a gripping piece of theatre, he’s giving us a masterclass in direction.
Joining Wenham throughout is Helen Svoboda, who works in tandem with the storyteller as well as Brady Watkins‘ sound design to paint a tapestry of visuals through instruments and vocals. This is what Belvoir’s Grief is the Thing with Feathers wanted to do with their live instrumental aid, but here it is perfected. Svoboda takes the shape of one of the Muses in Greek Mythology – she underscores Wenham’s reflection of the war on Troy, evoking clashes of armour on armour, fire crackling in silences, the drawing of a sword, the whispers of the Gods. It all works to build the world so it’s almost corporeal.
Moments of illusion and magic are peppered throughout to give Wenham’s storyteller the sense of the otherworldly. Adam Mada‘s consultancy on this sees fire takes shape, water appear from thin air, sand to cascade from luggage. It’s all very slight but it leaves an indefinable impact in serving the magical atmosphere held by Wenham throughout.
Peterson and O’Hare’s adaptation can sometimes veer into territory that lands a bit too on the nose, but it almost feels essential to pull the strings of those who feel like they’re just going to sit back to enjoy some Greek tales. This is a show to lean into, not to just sit back and enjoy.
As for Wenham, the fact that we are gifted with 100-minutes of time on which to watch him journey through a story so focused on the cyclical nature of war cannot be summed up in mere words. The symbolism and metaphor that weighs on his storyteller’s shoulders is worn wearily. A weight holds him, guides him, to hopefully teach us something that’s so desperately needed to be heard. There’s a moment that seems to reverberate through every seat as Wenham’s storyteller loses place of which war he’s focused on. He cascades into listing every major war known to man up until the very one we see played out on news channels at this very moment. It leaves you writhing as the list continuously builds.
Is An Iliad Worth Seeing in Sydney?
An Iliad is the equivalent to The Picture of Dorian Gray in Artistic Director Mitchell Butel‘s season. So if you understand what that means, then you know that you have to see it.
There’s not much more I can say that hasn’t already been said in other reviews. It’s shows like this that remind me why I love theatre so much. This is storytelling in the most epic of forms utilised through the most gritty of methods. There’s no cameras, no screens, no flash and pomp that ventures into a gimmick. This is art, performed and directed at its very best.
Tickets and Practical Info for An Iliad in Sydney 🎟️
25 Apr – 21 Jun 2026
Wharf 1 Theatre
Tickets: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/2026/productions/an-iliad
CREATIVES
Director Damien Ryan
Designer Charles Davis
Lighting Designer Alexander Berlage
Composer Helen Svoboda
Sound Designer Brady Watkins
Associate Director Ian Michael
Greek Language Consultant Deborah Galanos
Illusions & Magic Consultant Adam Mada
Voice & Text Director Charmian Gradwell
Illusions & Magic Associate Bruce Glen
Marketing Image Holly Ward
