Two thousand years ago, the Roman poet Ovid gave voice to a group of inspirational women—queens, sorcerers, pioneers, poets and politicians—in a series of fictional letters called The Heroines. They were the women left in the wake of those swaggering heroes of classical mythology: Theseus, Hercules, Ulysses, Jason, Achilles...
Now, drawing inspiration from Ovid, fifteen leading female and non-binary British playwrights dramatise the lives of these fifteen heroines in a series of new monologues for the twenty-first century.
15 Heroines was commissioned by Jermyn Street Theatre, London, and first performed—online and in three parts—in November 2020, presented in partnership with Digital Theatre. This edition of all fifteen monologues is introduced by directors—Adjoa Andoh, Tom Littler and Cat Robey—and writer, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes.
“The War” tells the untold stories of the Trojan War: Oenone, Hermione, Laodamia, Briseis and Penelope, written by Lettie Precious, Sabrina Mahfouz, Charlotte Jones, Abi Zakarian and Hannah Khalil.
“The Desert” is about women going their own way: Deianaria, Canace, Hypermestra, Dido and Sappho, written by April De Angelis, Isley Lynn, Chinonyerem Odimba, Stella Duffy and Lorna French.
“The Labyrinth” is about the women who encountered Jason and Theseus: Ariadne, Phaedra, Phyllis, Hypsipyle and Medea, written by Bryony Lavery, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Samantha Ellis, Natalie Haynes and Juliet Gilkes Romero.
