Margie Smit

Pink Ulysses

Eric De Kuyper

José Teunissen, Jos Ijland

An actor prepares, removing his shirt to iron it. All shirts stay off. In a mix of black and white, colour, and old film clips, a homoerotic odyssey begins. Troy is sacked, and Odysseus starts his languorous journey back to Penelope and Telemachos, who wait in Ithaca. Odysseus dreams: young well-muscled men roll on sheets, hands remove flowers to disclose a sculpted torso. The ship tosses Odysseus; gobs sleep in hammocks; a storm beats down and a life boat seeks a strand. Circe, disguised as Penelope, seduces Odysseus; he stays with her for seven years. In Ithaca, Penelope and her suitors are impatient. Will Odysseus arrive before the film crew breaks for lunch?