The Grenade is the latest romp from comic playwright and Bell Shakespeare's incoming Associate Artistic Director, Tony McNamara (The Great, The Give and Take). Renowned for his wildswinging satire and cheerful swipes at the darker side of human nature, McNamara is joined by regular collaborator and Director Peter Evans for Melbourne Theatre Company, together bringing you a whodunit comedy of fidelity, marriage and intergenerational relationships. 

Someone has planted a grenade in the kitchen of the McTavish family home. Although the pin remains in place, political advisor and lobbyist Busby McTavish (Garry McDonald) has just exploded into a paranoid frenzy of insecurity. Is it a warning? Or someone's idea of a practical joke? Or maybe the threat comes from within, from among his troubled family? Or was it his jealous work colleague political consultant Whitman (Mitchell Butel)?

As if the prospect of an imminent and gruesome death weren’t sufficient reason to be anxious, Busby has other causes for paranoia. Sexually voracious author of erotic fiction, Randy Savage (Bert LaBonté), is paying an alarming amount of attention to his wife (Belinda Bromilow), while his precious daughter Lola (Eloise Mignon) is being wooed by the slightly strange, balaclava-clad Wheat (Gig Clarke).

Blast into the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House for the preview of The Grenade on November 4, with shows November 9-12 at 8pm. Tickets are $30-$85. To make a booking, phone the Box Office on (02) 9250 1777 or visit the Sydney Theatre Company website.