Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad has its North American premiere at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Friday night, with the author herself in attendance.

In The Penelopiad, Atwood re-tells the myth of The Odyssey from the women's point of view and the half-British, half-Canadian cast found the alliance a rich experience.

The Penelopiad opens at NAC in Ottawa Friday after being well-received in Stratford-on-Avon.
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The ground-breaking collaboration between the NAC and the Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford-on-Avon played in the U.K. in July, but this is its Canadian opening.

Atwood will sign copies of her book The Penelopiad ahead of the performance on Friday.

She said she was too nervous to watch the play, her debut as playwright, on its first night in the U.K. Instead, she took in the performance a few days after it opened.

The play was well-received in the U.K., said Lisa Ann Cox, an Ottawa-born artist who is making her debut on the NAC stage with Penelopiad.

But so many of the lines are "pure Atwood," she believes it will have more resonance for Canadian theatre-goers.

"I think the Canadian audience will have a much deeper connection to the text," she told CBC News.

The story, told with music and dance, is about Odysseus's wife Penelope and her 12 maids, ordered hanged at his return, and what they were up to while he was off fighting the Trojan War.

Together, the actors figured out a common accent to use on-stage. Off-stage, they lived through floods in which the river Avon burst its banks.

The actresses felt they were 'ambassadors' in a ground-breaking experiment, said Canadian Corinne Koslo.
(CBC)

"There was this sense of being ambassadors. We want to make sure we don't screw this up for next time," said Canadian actress Corrine Koslo.

They learned about each other's work ethic, sense of humour and acting styles.

There was an "incredible sense of creative discipline, a real focus and commitment," said Mojisola Adebayo, part of the Royal Shakespeare's creative team. "I'm gushing, but that is totally from the heart."

While many administrative collaborations do take place in the theatre world, Deborah Shaw, the associate director of the Royal Shakespeare, said this experience was unique because of the demand that so many artists create something together.

That collaboration continues in Ottawa where the movement of the play has to be adapted to a larger stage

Director Josette Bushell-Mingo is a Briton based in Sweden, Australian actress Penny Downie plays Penelope and the production stars Royal Shakespeare actresses Adebayo, Frances Ashman, Derbhle Crotty, Pauline Hutton and Sarah Malin and Canadians Phillippa Domville, Kate Hennig, Lisa Karen Cox, Corinne Koslo, Pamela Matthews, Kelly McIntosh and Jenny Young.

The Penelopiad runs at the NAC until Oct. 6.