About This Show
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 off 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 beloved maids. Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids get the chance to tell their side of the story, through song, dance and storytelling in a new stage version by Margaret Atwood of her own wry, witty and wise novel.
