The Ham Funeral

In a gothic inner-city boarding house, a naïve young poet is drawn into the fetid world of the basement-dwelling landlord and his wife, the hauntingly grotesque Mr and Mrs Lusty.

When her husband drops dead suddenly, Mrs Lusty announces a lavish funeral feast in his honour. Driven by her relentless appetite, she attempts to seduce the poet, drawing him into a dangerous sexual game with comically tragic consequences.

Written in 1948 by Australia’s only Nobel Laureate for Literature, Patrick White, The Ham Funeral is one of the most intriguingly original plays in Australian theatre history