The Handmaid's Tale

Her life in America changed overnight in 2024 when, triggered partly by a low birth-rate caused by an environmental crisis, fundamentalists established a religious dictatorship known as the Republic of Gilead. Women were denied the right to work, possess property, or read and write. Furthermore, all fertile women of child-bearing age who were in breach of new marriage laws were forcibly separated from their families and sent to indoctrination centres, run by ‘Aunts’. There the women became Handmaids, to be posted to privileged childless households and ritually impregnated by the husband in the presence of his wife. If a Handmaid had not produced a child after three postings, she was sent to the colonies to clear up radiation spills.

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Margaret Atwood is the author of the landmark literary masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, on which the opera is based.  San Francisco Opera’s General Director, Matthew Shilvock conducted a written interview with Margaret Atwood in preparation for our West Coast premiere.

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• Prologue

  
  Torn from her husband Luke and their daughter as they were attempting to leave the country, the Handmaid was taken to the Red Centre where she participated in classes alongside other women who proved themselves fruitful in the past. Her friend Moira is among them and she meets Janine. Moira risked everything to escape and finally succeeded. Janine breaks down, imagining she is back in the time before the revolution. The handmaids graduate from the Red Centre and are sent to their first postings.

• ACT I

  
  A few years later, the Handmaid, who has not yet produced a child, transfers to her third posting, where she is known as Offred (Of Fred), after the Commander of the house. She recognizes his wife as Serena Joy, who was a television Gospel singer before the revolution. She meets the servant members of the household: Nick and Rita.
  
  Memories of her life before the revolution when she met Luke, fell in love, and had a daughter are ever present in Offred’s mind. She remembers her mother’s frustrated warnings about the need to keep fighting for hard-won rights and freedoms.
  
  Offred goes shopping, paired with another Handmaid, Ofglen. They meet Janine, now called Ofwarren, who is heavily pregnant. When Offred visits the doctor, she rejects his offer to impregnate her. At home, Nick attempts to talk to Offred and the Commander enters her bedroom–both are illegal acts. Offred undergoes her monthly ritual impregnation. Afterwards, Nick tells her that the Commander wants to see her privately, which is strictly forbidden.
  
  At the Red Centre, Wives, Commanders, Aunts, and Handmaids gather for the birthing ritual and Janine/Ofwarren’s baby is born.
  
  Back home, Offred visits the Commander in his office at night.

• ACT II

  
  Next morning, Rita finds Offred lying motionless and overreacts. The Commander caresses Offred during a ritual impregnation. She is terrified Serena Joy noticed and that Offred will be sent to the colonies. Offred and Ofglen go prayer-shopping. Offred learns that there is an underground movement whose code-word is Mayday but she is too frightened to help them. Janine/Ofwarren, whose baby was euthanized due to deformities, breaks down again and is taken away to be killed.
  
  Offred’s secret visits to the Commander continue. He brings her gifts and explains things to her: why Rita overreacted, for instance–the previous Handmaid posted here had killed herself.
  
  Desperate for a child, Serena Joy bribes Offred to try getting pregnant by Nick. The bribe is a recent photo of Offred’s missing daughter.
  
  The Commander smuggles Offred into Jezebel’s, a private brothel for top-ranking men in Gilead. She meets Moira there.
  
  Back home, Offred and Nick make love.
  
  Wives and Handmaids gather to witness and participate in the hanging of ‘criminals’ at a Salvaging event. The second part of the event is a Particicution where Handmaids are required to destroy a ‘rapist’. Ofglen starts by kicking him unconscious to spare him pain–he was in fact a fellow member of the underground movement.
  
  Offred finds she has a new shopping partner; she never again meets the former Ofglen, who has killed herself rather than be exposed as part of the resistance. Serena Joy has learned about Offred’s liaisons with the Commander. The police arrive to arrest Offred and to take her from the house. Nick tells her to trust them–that they are from the resistance and that she should go with them, but she is unsure what her fate will be.