David Wenham Will Star In STC’s Homer Reimagining, An Iliad

Award-winning actor and Australian icon David Wenham will make his highly anticipated return to the Sydney Theatre Company stage for the first time in over two decades, to perform in An Iliad, a reimagining of Homer’s epic.

The production brings Homer’s epic into contemporary focus,  in a show described as “shocking, glorious, primal and deeply satisfying” by Time Out New York.

Adapted by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, An Iliad transforms the classic into a solo performance that interrogates the human cost of war. Directed by Damien Ryan and featuring live music composed and performed by double bassist Helen Svoboda, An Iliad sees David Wenham take to the stage as the wry, world-weary poet. Compelled to retell the story of the Trojan War until humanity overcomes its violence, The Poet wanders through battlefields and broken cities, longing to lay the tale to rest – yet remains bound to its telling.

David Wenham says he is thrilled to be collaborating with director Damien Ryan and musician Helen Svoboda on a piece of theatre he hopes will ‘’both entertain and move audiences’’:

“An Iliad embraces the key ingredient for theatre throughout the centuries – storytelling. Using Homer’s epic tale as an allegory, An Iliad not only questions humanity’s constant thirst for conflict, it also is an examination of who we are – and the possibility maybe, just maybe, one day compassion will triumph over rage.”

An Iliad plays at STC’s Wharf 1 Theatre from 13 April 2026. Tickets are on sale now at sydneytheatre.com.au