Inspired by Flaxman Exclusive Tour and Evening Performance of The Penelopiad

York Art Gallery and York Theatre Royal are teaming up on Monday 26 October for a double bill that starts with a tour and ends with a play. The whole evening is built around Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman, the exhibition currently at the Gallery. It celebrates John Flaxman, a York-born designer and artist whose work has shaped art and design since the eighteenth century. His illustrations of Homer's Odyssey are on display there, alongside classical works by J.M.W. Turner, William Blake, Angelica Kauffman and Josiah Wedgwood.

The night kicks off at 5pm at York Art Gallery with a tour led by the Gallery's Senior Curator, Dr Beatrice Bertram. She'll take you through the exhibition, with Flaxman's Odyssey illustrations as the starting point. From there, the evening moves to York Theatre Royal for a performance of The Penelopiad, which starts at 6.30pm.

The Penelopiad was written by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale, and it reimagines Homer's Odyssey as a powerful, irreverent and darkly humorous retelling. It gives voice to the silenced Penelope and her chorus of maids, who wander the underworld to tell their own tale of injustice, betrayal and revenge, with songs woven throughout. It's directed by Juliet Forster, who's done Little Women and Around The World In 80 Days-ish!, and stars Amelia Bullmore — known from Riot Women, Happy Valley and Scott & Bailey — as Penelope.

So you've got the tour at the Gallery from 5pm to 6pm, and then the performance at the Theatre Royal starting at 6.30pm. Tickets are £57 per person and are sold through York Theatre Royal.