The Penelopiad
By Margaret Atwood
Directed by Rachel Korach Howell

March 6, 7, 8 at 7:30 pm & 9 at 2 pm
The James Theater

*Content Warning: This production not recommended for children under the age of 18*

This is a stylized staging of the story of Penelope and the suitors. It includes recurring themes of violence against women. There will be discussion of and depiction of sexual assault and rape, murder including hanging, simulated consensual sex, physical and mental abuse and manipulation, enslavement, and childbirth.

Synopsis:
As portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope – wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy – has become a symbol of wifely duty and devotion, enduring twenty years of waiting when her husband goes to fight in the Trojan War. As she fends off the attentions of a hundred greedy suitors, travelling minstrels regale her with news of Odysseus’ epic adventures around the Mediterranean – slaying monsters and grappling with amorous goddesses. When Odysseus finally comes home, he kills her suitors and then, in an act that served as little more than a footnote in Homer’s original story, inexplicably hangs Penelope’s twelve maids.

Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids tell their side of the story in a new stage version by Margaret Atwood, adapted from her own wry, witty and wise novel.

The Penelopiad tells the story of Penelope, wife of the famous Odysseus. Penelope, along with her twelve maids, share their side of the story, in a play that examines gender and class in true Atwood fashion.