Penelopiad - Study Guide
Penelopiad - Study Guide
Penelopiad - Study Guide
Title Sponsor
Who’s Who?
Cast
Penelope Seana McKenna
Maids Claire Armstrong
Tess Benger
Nadine Bhabha
Ingrid Blekys
Dejah Dixon-Green
Deborah Drakeford
Ellora PAtnaik
Monice Peter
Siobhan Richardson
Odysseus Praneet AkilLA
Production
Across her oeuvre, Atwood gives us a language with which to understand and grapple with the darkness of our times,
and an outline of how-not-to exist: Oryx and Crake depicts the fall-out of one man’s ego gone wild, The Handmaid’s
Tale shows us the human consequences of totalitarian rule under a radical theocracy, and The Penelopiad shows us
the tragedy that occurs at the intersection of power, gender, and class. Her evocative imagery has become pervasive,
particularly in post-2016 America: “Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again” has become a popular protest slogan,
women have taken to donning the attire of a handmaid in silent protest against legislative decisions that might
restrict the rights of women in the U.S., and Atwood is more popular than ever.
Atwood has long been preoccupied with unearthing the stories of women who occupy spaces where they are often
erased—making visible the women who were present all along, but relegated to narrative backgrounds. In the current
political climate, where debate about reproductive rights, women’s rights, and #metoo rages on, Atwood’s
commitment to giving voice to female perspectives seems to have taken on additional relevance for those who have
felt themselves silenced, who are now finding in Atwood’s works a certain urgency to ensure their voices are heard.
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Director: Megan Follows
Megan Follows is a Canadian actor and director. She is well-known for
appearing as Anne Shirley in the 1985 miniseries, Anne of Green Gables.
She has also appeared in guest roles in television series such as E.R., The X-
Files, CSI, House, and Murdoch Mysteries. Recently, she has had recurring
roles in Heartland and Reign, in which she played Queen Catherine de
Medici. She has also acted in a number of theatre productions, at companies
such as Toronto’s Soulpepper, the National Arts Centre, and with Mirvish
Productions. Follows has also exercised her skills as a director, working in
that capacity on Heartland, Reign, and Murdoch Mysteries.
Read on to hear Follows’ thoughts on bringing The Penelopiad to the stage at the Grand Theatre:
Much like its source, The Odyssey, Atwood’s The Penelopiad presents us with an epic—a story worth telling again
and again; rich with so many layers of narrative and so many reflections of our human psyche. Today this story is
more relevant than ever. The woman who was rendered a footnote in the saga of her husband’s life becomes the
protagonist. And yet she tells us her story, at long last, from Hades. Fighting for a voice, fighting for her story,
Penelope must also contend with yet another competing narrative, that of her maids, whose lives—lives lived in
service of her own—were sacrificed. The play asks us to examine the intersections of narrative that make up our
history, to reckon with that honestly, and to consider the cost of our complicity as we go on to tell and retell our
stories.
“The play you hold in your hands is an echo of an echo of an echo of an echo of an echo of an echo.”
This is how Atwood’s author’s introduction of her play begins. A story that began as a myth, a legend, passed on
through generations of orators, written down at some point and rewritten from there, has reverberated through
our literary canon for centuries. Eventually, in Atwood’s hands, it shifted perspectives and mediums. For me, it is
also an echo of an echo. I came to this work first as an actor, and in my experience, speaking Atwood’s words is like
chewing glass. When you’re in her world it is so arresting, sharp, delicate, and dangerous, and yet beautiful and
delicious. It is an honour to approach this work as director this time around, and I am thrilled to hear these words
brought to life anew here at the Grand. Another echo of this story.
At one point, Penelope states, “I had to use every ruse and stratagem at my command.” The play demands our
intelligence and our full attention; it invites us to reconsider, to experiment. And in putting together this
production, I used every bit of brilliance and artistry on offer from my team of designers and performers as we put
together a stylistic collage to try to tell our story: the story of what these words mean to us today.
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Summary:
Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is a re-telling of Homer’s famous epic, The Odyssey. Atwood’s story
focuses on Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, who is left at home in Ithaca while her husband fights in the Trojan
War, and then spends 10 long years journeying home. The play, based on Atwood’s novel of the same title,
shows what’s not seen in The Odyssey—Penelope’s long days spent waiting for her husband to return,
attempting to fend off the advances of a crowd of suitors who have arrived in Ithaca. The suitors—depicted
here as a loud, raucous, and violent group—presume Odysseus to be dead (after all, he is away from home
for approximately 20 years), and they are eager for Penelope to choose a new husband. Known for her
loyalty and belief that Odysseus will return, Penelope resists the suitors, continually making excuses and
postponing her choosing a new husband. As Telemachus becomes more frustrated, and the maids and
suitors alike reach a near-breaking point, Odysseus returns in disguise, challenging the suitors and winning.
In his triumph, Odysseus kills the suitors, and orders Penelope’s closest maids—those who have been
protecting her, and helping her stave off the suitors’ advances—to be hanged. It is this act that precipitates
much of the play’s setting in Hades, where Penelope and the maids exist in the afterworld, an uneasy tension
of guilt and suffering among them as Penelope recounts all the events that have led them to this point.
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Homer’s Odyssey
Who was Homer?
o The author of The Iliad and The Odyssey.
o Scholars are unsure if Homer was a single poet, or a nameassigned to a
collection of re-workings by orators and contributors over time
o Speculation about Homer’s biography includes claims that he was
blind, he was a wandering bard and the son of the river Meles and
the nymph Critheïs
o No one is sure when Homer (or the collective of Homer poets)
might have lived—estimates range from 750B.C. to 1200 B.C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRLK7Sog
Summary:
Three actors play all of the roles, changing characters as needed.
Would feature a chorus, a group of 12-50 performers speaking in unison to provide
context and comment on the action
Masks were used to mark the different characters.
Plays were performed in outdoor amphitheatres, which could seat thousands of
audience members.
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The underworld
“Now that I am dead, I know everything” –Penelope
Much of The Penelopiad takes places in the underworld, Hades, after Penelopiad and her maids have all
died. Hades is frequent setting in Ancient Greek myth—here’s what it’s all about!
The Ancient Greeks believed that when you die, your body and soul are separated, and the soul is
transported to the underworld. Much like other aspects of life in Ancient Greece, the afterlife is believed to
be ruled by a god, who is named Hades. His name becomes a shorthand for the world that he rules over.
Exercise:
In addition to Hades, there are many other names associated with places and things in the Underworld.
Have your students research each of the following terms, and create a two-sentence description of its
meaning.
Expansion exercise: as a second part of this activity, have students create an artistic representation of their
chosen term. This can take a dramatic form, such as a tableau; a musical form, such as a composition or
vocalization; it could take the form of dance or movement; or, it could be a work of visual art. This part of the
exercise can be as extensive as you like—it could be a large project, or it could be a very brief activity, relying
on instinct and thinking on one’s feet.
Women’s lives in ancient Greece were strictly controlled—as a child, a woman was under the guardianship
of her father, and once she married, that responsibility shifted to her husband. In Athens, women did not
have legal personhood—they were not considered citizens, and therefore could not vote, and they could not
own property, other than clothing, jewellery, and a personal slave. All other property was owned and
managed by the male guardian, and once married, a woman’s husband would have complete control over the
family’s finances.
As we see depicted in The Penelopiad, marriage was not necessarily instigated through love. Instead,
marriages would be arranged by a young woman’s father, who would choose the partner and receive the
dowry. Women typically married young—in her early teens—and was expected to be a virgin when she
married. While love was not taken into consideration for the creation of the marriage, it was expected that at
least a friendly or familial love would develop between the partners.
Writer’s prompt: Explore what life would have been like for women living in Ancient Greece,
using any creative writing genre (playwriting, poetry, short story, novel, fictional essay, etc.)
Use research to help develop and ground your ideas, but feel free to take some artistic licence
in your work.
What types of activities would an Ancient Greek woman take part in during her daily life?
What tasks might your characters do out of necessity, and what acts of recreation might they
participate in during their free time?
What conversations might Ancient Greek women have amongst themselves? What topics do
you think they would discuss?
What challenges do you expect she might face? What aspects of her life might bring her joy?
Consider how class and wealth would influence an Ancient Greek woman’s life—how would a
poor woman’s circumstances differ from those of a wealthy woman? How would a woman’s
day-to-day life differ based on her social standing during this time?
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Feminism
Some commentators have referred to The Penelopiad as a feminist text; however, Margaret Atwood
disagrees, stating that “I wouldn't even call it feminist. Every time you write something from the point of
view of a woman, people say that it's feminist” (as quoted in the National Post).
Discussion Exercise
The following exercise combines individual/small group brainstorming and research, with group discussion.
Steps 1-3 can be completed solely individually or in small groups. Beginning with step 4, it is recommended
to conduct a group discussion using the “pair and share” method, where students first discuss the question
in groups of two or three, and then the teacher/moderator opens the discussion to the whole class.
1. What does feminism mean to you? Begin by brainstorming what you believe the term “feminism”
means. This work can be completed individually or in a small group.
2. Research feminism. What are its roots? What are some of the key people and events related to
feminism? How has feminism been defined differently over time? How do different people define
feminism? What might be the cause of these differing definitions?
3. Return to the first question—now that you have completed some research on feminism, what you do
now consider to be the meaning of feminism? How would you define it, in a single sentence? Has
your perspective changed at all? If so, how?
4. With a strong, clear, and concise definition of feminism in hand, consider the following question: is
The Penelopiad a feminist narrative? Why or why not? Why do you think Atwood refuses to call it
feminist? Is she correct to do so?
5. Is it true that “every time you write something from the point of view of a woman, people say that it’s
feminist”? Do you think this is a useful way to categorize stories? Why or why not?
6. Is there a difference between a story—or a particular version of a story—being feminist, and the
content of a story being feminist? Why or why not?
7. Reflection – has this conversation changed your perspective on The Penelopiad or feminism at all? If
so, how?
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Indeed, The Odyssey was likely a widely-adapted text from its beginnings: the tale would have first been told
through oral storytelling, and was likely repeated and re-told to new groups of people.
Discussion Questions
Have you encountered The Odyssey in any form prior to this? What do you remember about
the story?
How does this play’s portrayal of Odysseus differ from the descriptions given in The Odyssey,
or other versions of this story?
Can you think of other examples of movies, television shows, plays, books, or other forms of
art that tell a story from the opposite of the traditional perspective?
What do you think of Penelope? Did your opinion of her remain the same throughout the play,
or did it change? If it did change, explain how and where your feelings towards her started to
shift.
What did you feel was the most striking or affecting moment in the play? Was this moment plot
or production-based? What effect did it have on you? What about this aspect of the play did
you find to be notable?
What role does class play in The Penelopiad? In what ways do you see class differences
impacting the characters? What is the significance of the socio-economic divisions between
the female characters? Who gets treated well, and why? Who gets treated poorly, and why?
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Further Reading
The Penelopiad. Margaret Atwood.
You’ve seen the play—now read the book! From Penguin Randomhouse: “In a splendid
contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to
Penelope and to her twelve hanged Maids, asking: "What led to the hanging of the maids, and
what was Penelope really up to?" In Atwood’s dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as
wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit
and verve, drawing on the storytelling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she
gives Penelope new life and reality--and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.