Based on the book The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood published by Knopf Canada, Canongate UK and Canongate USA.

The Swan Theatre
Previews from Friday 27 July 2007
Press Night: Thursday 2 August 2007, 7pm

RSC Associate Artist Penny Downie leads the all female cast as Odysseus’ wife Penelope in the forthcoming premiere stage adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad in the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Penny last appeared with the RSC in David Edgar’s play The Prisoner’s Dilemma in 2001. Her other RSC credits include The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Plantagenets, Romeo and Juliet. Other stage work includes Henry V, Enemy of the People, and Sleep with Me (National Theatre) and An Ideal Husband (Haymarket/Broadway). Her television and film work includes Crime and Punishment, House of Mirth, Food of Love, Inspector Morse (Central TV), Lost For Words (Yorkshire TV) and The Ice House (BBC).

The cast for the production joins together seven actresses from Atwood’s native Canada and members of the existing RSC ensemble from the UK. Mojisola Adebayo, Frances Ashman, Derbhle Crotty Pauline Hutton, and Sarah Malin - all currently in the RSC’s ensemble pairing of Macbeth and Macbett - will be joined from Canada by Lisa Karen Cox, Philippa Domville, Kate Hennig, Corinne Koslo, Pamela Matthews, Kelly McIntosh and Jenny Young.

Josette Bushell-Mingo is to direct the production. Swedish based Josette is Artistic Director of PUSH, an organisation set up for the promotion and development of Black British Theatre. Other directing credits include Two Step for PUSH 04 at the Almeida, Simply Heavenly (Young Vic), Mother Courage (Nottingham Playhouse), The Tango Room, The House of Bernarda Alba, Dreamhouse, Minotouramachia and Telling Tales (Aspects Theatre Company), Antigone (Luntan Teater, Sweden), Edwina - A Cautionary Tale For Grown Ups (Stadsteatern, Stockholm), Medea (Kulturhuset, Stockholm), The House of Bernarda Alba (Blo Theatre, Stockholm), Rosa Rosa (Raw Material in Amsterdam) and The Threepenny Opera (Contact Theatre, Manchester).

Josette’s theatre credits as an actor include: Vagina Monologues (New Ambassadors), The Lion King (West End) for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Award in a Musical at the 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards, The Creation, Death & Knowledge in Everyman, Virtuoso, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Thebans (all for RSC), The Women of Troy (RNT), and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (The National Theatre of Germany in Dusseldorf and on tour). She played the title role in Peta Lily's The Porter's Daughter (Cockpit Theatre) and The People Show for The I.C.A. and on tour. Josette was recently awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours.

Toronto based Margaret Atwood is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, fiction, and non fiction, and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid’s Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994) and Alias Grace (1996). The Blind Assassin, won the 2000 Booker Prize, and in April 2003, her eleventh novel, the Man Booker Prize nominated Oryx and Crake was released to great acclaim. Ms. Atwood’s The Penelopiad, a retelling of The Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope and her maids, was released in 2005 as part of The Myths Series.

The production is designed by Rosa Maggiora with music composed by Warren Wills. The creative team also includes Canadian movement director Veronica Tennant and lighting designer Bonnie Beecher. The dramaturgy for the production is by Nicola Wilson.

Canadian playwright and director Djanet Sears has been invited to join the company as a Creative Fellow as part of the RSC/Warwick University Capital partnership.

Further information

For more information and interviews, please contact Nada Zakula in the RSC Press Office on 01789 412622 or nada.zakula@rsc.org.uk or Laura Denker, Communications Officer, National Arts Centre English Theatre on (613) 947-7000 ext. 389 or ldenker@nac-cna.ca

Production images will be available to download free of charge by registering on the EPO (Electronic Press Office) www.epo-online.com from Monday 30 July 2007.

Notes to Editors

• The Penelopiad runs in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 27 July to 18 August 2007, at Northern Stage in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 5, 6 and 7 September (in repertoire with Macbeth and Macbett) as part of the RSC’s annual residency in the North East of England, and then at Canada’s National Arts Centre from 21 September – 6 October (previews 19 and 20 September)
• The RSC Box Office Hotline is: 0844 800 1110