Margaret (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) Atwood turns Homer’s “The Iliad” inside out in The Penelopiad, now on tap at at City Garage, directed by Frederique Michel and designed by Charles A. Duncombe.
A 13-person (all female) cast headed by Peggy Flood as the iconic Penelope depicts what life was like while her husband King Odysseus was away fighting in the Trojan War and doing what he loved best: killing, pillaging and plundering. Her view of the man she was forced to marry is not a pretty one. “He was a trickster and a thief,” she tells her twelve maids. Yet she was obliged to try and hold the kingdom together while he was off spilling blood and strutting around like a hero.
Things are equally violent back home. Penelope’s maids are constantly fighting off the “suitors,” depraved locals yearning to seduce these lovely young women. On top of that, Penelope’s obnoxious and bitchy cousin, Helen (Marie Paquin), keeps sniping away at Penelope, reminding her that she’s the one Odysseus loves above all. When Odysseus’s spoiled and snotty teenaged son makes an appearance and starts ordering everyone around, you realize that you are watching a scene in Hades.
Atwood’s feminist/revisionist take on “The Iliad” takes place on a near-bare stage whose decor is comprised of steel platforms framed, at times, by a projection of the Ionic Sea. The beautiful blue water serves as an ironic backdrop to the ugliness and savagery of the human (make that male) race.
Much happens during the course of this complex, two-hour-long production. As Penelope narrates the tale, her maids act it out, chanting, singing and dancing. They also take on multiple roles, sometimes playing male characters. In one bawdy and satirical scene they pretend to be suitors, running around and waggling their cartoon dildos at each other.
Director/choreographer Frederique Michel has done a masterful job with The Penelopiad. Atwood’s play is dense and complicated, with multiple story lines and a profusion of characters to orchestrate, but she has more than managed to meet the challenge. Thanks to her strong hand–-and the equally robust acting of Peggy Flood (and ensemble) –- The Penelopiad stands out as one of City Garage’s most memorable productions.
