The Penelopiad at West Sacramento Black Box Theater

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2. The Penelopiad

Penelope, the wise and patient wife of the ancient Greek hero Odysseus, has passed beyond the veil of death. From Hades - the land of the dead - Penelope can see everything about her past and present, including her historical reputation as a perfectly faithful wife. However, she is haunted by the blood on her hands: the deaths of her twelve maids who were slaughtered by Odysseus under false pretenses. Begging the audience not to follow in her footsteps, Penelope re-tells the story of The Odyssey from her point of view, through a series of visions spanning her life.

Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel by the same name, The Penelopiad is a poetic, feminist re-imagining of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. The play is beautifully rendered in both prose and verse in contemporary language, and is brimming with powerful symbolism.