(Eurycleia
(Holly Armstrong), Odysseus (Bonwa Mbontsi) & Penelope (Nicola Oelofse).)
The Theatre – St Anne’s College presents a
dance theatre production inspired by the Penelopiad
by Margaret Atwood.
Penelope is directed by Lynn Chemaly and choreography by Bonwa Mbontsi is to
an original score by Christopher Duigan.
Those who tell you “Do not put too much
politics in your art” are not being honest. If you look very carefully you will
see that they are the same people who are quite happy with the situation as it
is. And what they are saying is not “don’t introduce politics”. What they are
saying is “don’t upset the system”. They are just as political as any of us.
It’s only that they are on the other side. Chinua Achebe, 1980
Men document the most powerful ancient
stories that have come to us through history. The Greek classics, brought to us
predominantly through account’s by Homer in The
Odyssey and The Iliad, recount
elaborate tales of resilient heroes, family feuds, tawdry and complex wars,
brutal deaths, manipulative and nasty women, mythological creatures and exotic
love: by definition, all are a male account.
For Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, running
a kingdom for 20 years while her husband is off fighting the Trojan War is not
a simple business. She must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous
rumours and keep more than 100 lustful, greedy, bloodthirsty suitors at bay.
Margaret Atwood, in her novel The Penelopiad, recounts the story of
Penelope by giving her an alternative voice as compared to her male documented
history, a voice in stark contrast to the traditional tale.
Historically, Penelope is lauded as the
essential ‘good woman’: the faithful and loyal wife, domestic, pious, humble
and resourceful. She is hailed as the ‘example’ all women should follow.
Atwood, in her retelling, gives us a strongly feminist insight into aspects of
Penelope’s life that are unaccounted for. We see the exploitation she suffers
as a princess where her value is the sum total of her family’s wealth and
position. We see the extent of her loneliness as she battles to save her home,
her son and her people, and the final devastation, brought on by her own
husband and son, in their hanging of her 12 maids, whom she has raised as her
daughters.
Atwood explores two chief factors in
women’s history; firstly, women’s value as only connected to male private and
public property and ownership; and secondly, how all women, but particularly
those that are marginalised through poverty, slavery and war, have no intrinsic
value; they can be sold, traded, bullied, raped, abused, killed and ‘parcelled out
as plunder’ without consequence. They are worthless.
The production is presented in the form of
Dance Theatre, where excerpts of Atwood’s writing from The Penelopiad form the narration of the story, to dance, while her
chorus pieces, inter-dispersed, are presented in live action and song by the 12
hanged maids, who comment on the story in relation to their own context and
experience. This contrast in both style and form adds insight and impact to the
exposure of women’s experience historically, while highlighting how, and why,
these attitudes are still with us today.
“Men are afraid that women will laugh at
them. Women are afraid that men will kill them,” says Margaret Atwood
Penelope has performances from March 20 to 23 at 19h30 at The Theatre – St
Anne’s College, in Hilton. Tickets R60 (Concessions R40). Booking on 033 343 6100
or twoodgate@stannes.co.za
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