Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad stage adaptation reveals full cast joining Amelia Bullmore

Full casting has been confirmed for a new production of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal this autumn.

The cast is led by Amelia Bullmore, in her stage return, as Penelope.

The piece is a feminist retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey, reimagining the epic through the eyes of Penelope and her chorus of maids.

Directed by the venue’s creative director Juliet Forster, the production will run from 10 to 31 October 2026, with a press night scheduled for 14 October.

Forming the company are Nell Baker (as Laertes), Danielle Bird (Eurycleia), Olivia Burton-Laws (Naiad Mother), Faye Campbell (Melantho), Pena Iiyambo (Helen), Kat Johns-Burke (Antinous), Syakira Moeladi (Telemachus), and Charlie Russell (Odysseus).

Forster leads an all-female creative team, comprising Sara Perks (designer), Alexandra Stafford (lighting designer), Kate Marlais (composer, musical director and sound designer), Michelle Edwards (movement director), and Ellie Collyer-Bristow (casting director).

The director said that after meeting “so many brilliant women over the last couple of months… it is clear just how strongly this story resonates with people today.”

She added: “Margaret Atwood’s powerful script is so rich with wit and humour as she unveils a new feminist perspective on the familiar Odyssey myth. The show is interwoven with songs and exuberant movement and we hope to offer audiences an entirely different way of understanding the story of Penelope and her maids – and most importantly a great night out!”

The Penelopiad was first staged at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2007 as a co-production between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Canada’s National Arts Centre. York Theatre Royal describes the new staging as the first major UK revival of the play since that premiere production.