Gwen is 90. She woke up this morning to discover that purgatory is sitting alone in a new house in a new subdivision on the edge of town, trying to work out if the remote in her hand operates the TV, the air-con or the fanforced oven. But the kids are coming round and Father Ezekiel is on his way to bless the house, so the beginning of the end is looking up…
Written specially for Company B, Gwen in Purgatory is Tommy Murphy’s brilliant existential comedy about an African missionary in the wilderness of Australian suburbia. Gwen’s brood of ordinary souls is battling along in a changing world and wringing out the last drops of their matriarch’s faith.
Between them they may just find their way to some sort of forgiveness.
For a study guide from Belvoir Theatre click here.
