MY ROMAN EMPIRE

About the show

Joe is broke, creatively stuck, emotionally bankrupt, almost 35, gay, single and alone. So, naturally, he embarks upon a semi-spiritual economy-grade vigil to Italy to scatter his father's ashes, hoping to reconnect with his ancestry, discover his greater purpose, or at least spend a few weeks living la dolce vita in the Fatherland. Instead, what he finds is a village on the verge of extinction, elderly relatives who (still) worship at the altar of Mussolini, and Luca: his magnetic second cousin, who offers Joe something truly intoxicating: an opportunity to be part of something bigger, something significant, something that feels like home. But his new family have secrets of their own ... As Joe gets pulled deeper into a world of savage wrestling, strange rituals and fiery rhetoric - Ancient Rome, neo-nationalism, and machismo collide. The seduction is real. And so is the danger. My Roman Empire is a Euro-fever dream for anyone who's ever mistaken a red flag for a sign, a faction for a family, or an identity quest for an erotic journey into the heaving underbelly of a country at war with itself. Winner of the 2026 Queensland Premier's Drama Award, this is a funny, scathing, and unflinchingly smart coming-of-age political satire that our Judges called "a highly original, sophisticated comedy.”