JERMYN STREET THEATRE AND DIGITAL THEATRE COLLABORATE ON 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. 

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.

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.

CAST INCLUDES: 

Eleanor Tomlinson
CANACE - THE DESERT

Indra Ové
DEIANARIA - THE DESERT

Martina Laird
SAPPHO - THE DESERT

Nicholle Cherrie
HYPERMESTRA - THE DESERT

Rosalind Eleazar
DIDO - THE DESERT

Patsy Ferran
ARIADNE - THE LABYRINTH

Doña Croll
PHAEDRA - THE LABYRINTH

Nathalie Armin
PHYLLIS - THE LABYRINTH

Nadine Marshall
MEDEA - THE LABYRINTH

Olivia Williams
HYPSIPYLE - THE LABYRINTH

Ann Ogbomo
OENONE - THE WAR

Rebekah Murrell
HERMIONE - THE WAR

Jemima Rooper
BRISEIS - THE WAR

Gemma Whelan
PENELOPE - THE WAR