The Penelopiad Av Margaret Atwood

<p>As portrayed in Homer''s <i>Odyssey</i>, 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.<br><br>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.<br><br><i>The Penelopiad</i> premiered with the Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Canada''s National Arts Centre at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in Jul