Wayward Women

A new Elizabethan five-act comedy by Jared McDaris. Cordelius, a Swiss Nobleman, and his bondman Julian are cast by mischance upon the isle of Amosa, where women rule and men are the gentler sex. The Duchess Penti Celia welcomes them to the Festival of the New Moon, but celebrations are marred by the egomaniacal sparring of the wastrel knights Dame Anu (the virtuous) and Dame Grendela (the fartuous). Posturing, singing, squabbling, seducing, and all manner of cunning color the Dames' plots to embarrass and one-up one another, and the poor men soon find themselves hapless pawns in their game. With overt nods to Hamlet and MacBeth, and some allusion to other Shakespeare classics, The Wayward Women is a comedy-pastoral about generational norms, fluid morality (and gender roles), and good-old-fashioned sex.