Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad to get Toronto staging in 2012
After successful productions in Ottawa and Calgary, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad will finally be mounted in the first lady of CanLit’s hometown. The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Nightwood Theatre will stage a production of the play, which is adapted from Atwood’s 2005 novella, next January. Nightwood’s artistic director, Kelly Thornton (The Danish Play, China Doll), will helm the show, which will feature a large, all-female cast.
The play is inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey, but where the original focuses on adulterous warmonger Odysseus, Atwood’s version takes the POV of Penelope, his long-suffering, crafty wife who is plagued by the unwanted affections of a gaggle of lecherous suitors. The announcement comes amid a raft of other exciting theatrical news, including Atom Egoyan taking on Martin Crimp’s Cruel and Tender at CanStage, productions of Private Lives and War Horse from Mirvish, Daniel MacIvor’s play Was Spring at the Tarragon and a staging of the Green Day jukebox musical American Idiot by DanCap.
• Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Penelopiad’ getting Toronto premiere in 2012 [The Globe and Mail]
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