In her 2005
novel The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood took us on a romp of a
retelling of the story of Penelope, the famous wife of the far more famous
Odysseus. She gave it a feminist perspective and told the story from the point
of view of Penelope and, according to Homer in the Odyssey the twelve
servants who betrayed her and were hanged by Odysseus
The novel was
turned into a play and was staged at Stratford-upon-Avon, among other places,
by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Arts Centre of Canada. It is
now playing at Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto.
The play opens
with Penelope in Hades telling us her own story as the unattractive daughter of
Icarus and a naiad who was won by Odysseus and
packed off to marry him at age 15. She gives us background information not
included in the Odyssey.
Amanda Cordner as Penelope. Photo: Scott Gorman
We see her
twelve maids who are also in Hades, accuse her
of treachery for not speaking up in their defence. You will recall that the
suitors who had invaded Odysseus’s palace during his 20 year absence were
pressuring Penelope to marry one of them. Her ruse of weaving a shroud for her
father-in-law Laertes was helped by the servants who were in cahoots with her.
The servants
cavorted with the suitors and maintained the ruse (mostly) but when Odysseus
returned he ordered them executed for treachery.
Amanda Cordner
as Penelope tells her story in a dramatic and effective manner. She presents
Penelope as intelligent, faithful, patient and wily (like her husband) but also
smart enough to pretend that she did not recognize him on his return or did not
know about his infidelities.
The twelve maids
form a chorus and they sing, dance and speak the light, sometimes burlesque
verses that Atwood wrote. Some of the singing is humorous, some of it lyrical
and some atrocious. They speak in groups of four or all twelve in unison and I
find that approach quite annoying. You prick up your ears to follow what they
are saying and it amounts to a lot of trouble for very little. There are a
number of times when they sounded as if they were cackling.
The actors who
play Odysseus (Arielle Zamora), Icarus (Shannon Dickens), and Antinous (Julia
Hussey) come across as female impersonators which is in keeping with the
burlesque take on Homer. They are mostly caricatures resembling something from
Monty Python.
Director
Michelle Langille has to deal with the serious, feminist approach to the story
as well as the lighter side of Atwood’s verse.
Penelope has
been usually (but by no means always) viewed as the ideal wife, a paragon of
virtue, patience, fidelity and intelligence. She was the product of the imagination
of men in a strictly patriarchal society. The same society did produce men who
created heroic women like Antigone and Lysistrata. So that the feminist point
of view is not entirely missing.
This transfer
from novel to stage is not always successful but the young actors and
production team of Hart House Theatre who are almost all amateurs deserve kudos
for the production.
You will get an
interesting romp through the world of the
Odyssey from a different perspective.
__________
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood continues until November 24, 2018 at Hart House
Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, Ontario. www.harthousetheatre.ca Telephone (416) 978-8849
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