On this week’s episode of WBOI Presents, we are featuring a radio play performance of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.
The Penelopiad retells The Odyssey from the points of view of Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, and her handmaidens. Residing in Hades for eternity, the thirteen female spirits reminisce on their lives in Ithaca before and after the Trojan War’s end.
In this radio play performance, the Greek chorus of handmaidens continually interrupts Penelope’s narrative to express their views on events. Using a different genre for each chorus, the maids’ interludes make for a lively aural experience that include a jump-rope rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial, and several types of songs.
Special thanks to Susan Domer, Beverly Redman, John Buteyn, and the Purdue University Fort Wayne Department of Theatre for making this program possible. Our music is by Mark Waldick, Noah Campodonico, and Kurt Roembke. Our web producer is Loyal Vandenburg. Our production assistants are Monica Blankenship, Steve Mullaney, and Sydney Wagner.
