Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood is bringing her work from the page to the theatre stage.
Atwood, the author of dozens of books and short stories, has rewritten her bestselling 2005 book "The Penelopiad" for theatre and the play begins its run at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Friday.
While Atwood texts such as "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Edible Woman" have been the subject of theatrical presentations in the past, "The Penelopiad" represents her professional debut writing for the stage.
"The Penelopiad" is Atwood's retelling of Homer's "The Odyssey" from the point of view of Odysseus' wife Penelope.
In the original epic Greek poem, Penelope waits years for the return of her husband Odysseus, who is feared dead, from the Trojan War.
"She's finally telling her story," Atwood told CTV's Canada AM. "In the 'Odyssey,' she's the patient, suffering wife. But can anybody really be that patient, that suffering for that long?"
But Atwood's retelling of the story is not only limited to the wife of Odysseus. She also gives voices and characters to Penelope's 12 maids, who become her closest allies as she deals with the advances of suitors.
At the end of Homer's "Odyssey," Penelope's 12 maids are hung by a single piece of rope, "an episode so disagreeable that a lot of people in modern retellings just leave it out."
"That ticked me off," Atwood said. "For our modern sensibility it's a very brutal and excessive and awful thing to do."
"The Penelopiad" continues Atwood's penchant for putting twists on famous texts and looking at them from the view of different characters.
"It's a way of re-reading something you know quite well and looking at it from a different angle," Atwood said.
The production of the play is a collaborative effort between Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Arts Centre English Theatre. The play features an all-female cast made up of Canadian and English actors and represents the first time the Royal Shakespeare Company has collaborated with a Canadian theatre company.
While Atwood was not physically present at the rehearsal sessions of the play, she was very involved in the writing of the script at all stages.
The author saw the final version of the play in England earlier this year during the second week of its run at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
"I have to say that the actors in this play, work harder than anybody you have ever seen on stage," Atwood said. "And if you really want to be fit, join the cast."
The play runs at the National Arts Centre until October 6.
