Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...In stark contrast with Helen, whose mere visage sent people bananas, the Homeric character known as Penelope was a paragon of spousal virtue and patience. But, as Book 22 of "The Odyssey" recounts, when Penelope's Odysseus returns home to Ithaca and his faithful wife, he proceeds to murder the slovenly suitors who had courted her while he was overseas. He mutters something about the need for purity and he's hardly done. He then commands his obedient son, who has been missing his dad, to kill all the palace handmaids who had slept with said suitors, even though they'd had no choice. The kid decides to hang them all."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...With Goodman Theatre's staging of Atwood’s stage adaptation of “The Penelopiad,” artistic director Susan V. Booth shapes a production of furious impact and impeccable ensemble work from the all-female, 13-strong cast. With the exception of Jennifer Morrison’s Penelope, the ensemble plays numerous characters in addition to the maids, Odysseus among them. Infused with bewitching music and dance sequences, the brutality of the narrative comes studded with shards of wit as sharp as the arrows that pierce the throats of the “suitors” determined to take Penelope, the maids, and everything else Odysseus left behind during his lengthy absence from Ithaca."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"... Artistic director Susan V. Booth waited a good long time after rejoining the Goodman in 2022 to direct a show of her own, but it was totally worth the wait. Her production of Margaret Atwood’s “cabaret” telling of The Odyssey from Penelope’s point of view is just about perfect, beginning with her choice of Jennifer Morrison as Penelope."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...Morrison has appeal for days in the lead role. The play hits the ground running with sharp, cutting wit from the get go, which she handles with admirable timing. She also pulls off Penelope's adolescent fear of a hasty marriage with real tenderness and dives in fearlessly to the character's less admirable qualities, from her low-key but unrelenting irritation at everyone's obsession with her cousin Helen to her oblivious entitlement to the sacrifices she demands of the maids. Her weary (and wary) reunion with Odysseus feels true to a woman who has been surviving by her wits (and by her ruthlessness, as needed) for years."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Recommended
"...Overall, I enjoyed The Penelopiad, but it needed some trimming of scenes, providing more focus on the exceptional scenes between Penelope and her deceptive nature that cost the maids their lives. With today's women still not receiving equal justice in society, I would love to see that storyline lengthen as, one by one; each woman hung recounts the tales of promise and betrayal."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...I didn’t particularly enjoy reading and studying Homer’s “Odyssey” when it was assigned as required reading back in high school. I only wish I could have seen and experienced the version of “The Penelopiad” now playing at the Goodman Theatre through March 31st in the beautiful 856-seat Albert Theatre ."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...The two-act play is filled with humor, violence, spectacle, drama and comedy. Not only does Jennifer Morrison shine as Penelope, the good wife, she provides her opinions on other characters, clarifies historical misconceptions and sets the story straight that Homer told in The Odyssey. In between, the 12 Maids also speak and share their point of view. They pine for their freedom, lament their lost childhood, complain about the upper class characters who control their lives and even dream of being princesses. Interspersed with songs, dances and many inventive and playful moments, this magical, mesmerizing production makes a fantastic way to kick off Women’s History Month."
Buzznews.net - Recommended
"..."The Penelopiad" is a zesty romp and very entertaining. With a script by a writer I adore, Margaret Atwood of "The Handmaid's Tale" fame, and based on her novella by the same name, it tells the story of Odysseus' wife Penelope (played stunningly by Jennifer Morrison)-and how she occupied herself during the long odyssey recounted in Homer's Greek epic poem, "The Odyssey." I had recently finished reading a new translation so that story was fresh on my mind."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Atwood characterizes The Penelopiad as something like a Brecht/Weill cabaret performance, rather than a long-form musical. It is a play with magnificent language, and occasional songs, dances and rope-skipping. JoAnn M. Hunter cleverly choreographs the movement."
Chicago Culture Authority - Highly Recommended
"...Margaret Atwood is the writer most aligned with the current cultural zeitgeist in the United States because her 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale has so many disturbing parallels with the nascent religious autocracy dead set on retaking patriarchal control of women’s bodies after half a century of feminist progress. But if her chronicle of a dystopian future feels alarmingly current, Atwood shows in The Penelopiad, now onstage at the Goodman Theatre in a gripping, revelatory production, that the distant past is also prologue when it comes to male domination of women."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...The Penelopiad is a revelation. It’s no wonder the words of Margaret Atwood combined with the direction of Susan V. Booth, the acting of an all-star cast, and the remarkable design work of a talented team have combined to create a play that, like the poem it draws from, can only be described as epic."
BroadwayWorld - Recommended
"...THE PENELOPIAD ultimately relays a feminist message that seems as old as the original text of THE ODYSSEY itself: Women have long been confined and tortured at the hands of men, who rob them of choices and free will. It’s an important message, but the play doesn’t probe new depths to it. Still, the fine work of the Goodman’s all-female ensemble becomes the production’s greatest portrayal of female strength and the willingness to persevere against seemingly insurmountable obstacles."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Despite the play’s dozens of characters—each played by members of the all-female cast who double in many male and female roles—Atwood masterfully compresses the action. Director Susan Booth, now firmly at the helm as Goodman’s artistic director, moves the play with energy and wit. Booth manages the many scene shifts seamlessly, enlivening each of the many kings, queens, maids, suitors and purple-striped ducks with their own strong personae."
