The Handmaid's Tale Synopsis
Minnesota Opera, June 2003

	VIEW Photos from the Minnesota Opera Production. Photos by Michal Daniel, courtesy The Minnesota Opera Flash Slideshow Ideas on Paper Artist renderings of what the costumes will look like. Flash Slideshow The Ultramodern Set Watch the set models slowly evolve to follow the story's dark drama. Flash Slideshow READ Interview with Poul Ruders and Dale Johnson MPR's Lauren Rico discusses the opera with the composer and The Minnesota Opera's artistic director. Modern Literary Inspirations MPR's Rex Levang examines the trends in opera themes. Handmaid's Tale makes U.S. Premiere MPR's Marianne Combs covers the Minnesota Opera production. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale Find out more about the book and the author, and hear MPR interviews with her. DISCUSS Discuss the novel Discuss adaptation of stories into operas EXPLORE Margaret Atwood Web site Poul Ruders Web site

Symposium Prologue
At the International Historical Association Convention, held June 20-25, 2195, Professor James Darcy Pieixoto delivers a lecture on early 21st-century monotheocratic governments. Specifically he refers to a series of recently discovered audiocassettes, made by an anonymous Handmaid after her escape from the Republic of Gilead.

Gilead was established after an armed insurrection within the United States that culminated in the assassination of the President and Congress. Its leaders established a society based on religious doctrine in response to a perceived decline in America's moral fiber. The wars involved the use of nuclear weapons, and the toxic aftermath resulted in scarcity of food and low birthrate.

Those who were unable to be assimilated into the new republic were sent to clean up toxins in the Colonies, essentially a death sentence. Those who participated in the new order were forced to conform to a series of strict rules. Gilead was ruled by Commanders in a society where women had no rights, with the exception of the Commanders' Wives and the Aunts. Most Wives were rendered sterile or were too old to conceive. As a consequence, women who had children before the revolution (either out of wedlock or by second marriage) and thus proved themselves fertile were recruited against their will to provide children for the new regime. These were the Handmaids, and the validity of their existence was referenced by a passage from Genesis: "And Rachel said, 'Behold my handmaid Bilhah. Go in unto her; And she shall bear upon my knees, that I may have children by her.'"
Handmaids were "trained" by Aunts at the Red Center. Following the opening remarks by Professor Pieixoto, the opera flashes back to Gilead several years after the revolution. The tale is told by Offred with frequent flashbacks to her life preceding the insurrection, during the Time Before.
Red Center Prelude

The Handmaids are instructed by Aunt Lydia, who reviews Gilead's Commandments. Offred gives testimony of her teenage abortion following a gang rape and is shunned by the other Handmaids. Guardians drag in Moira, a friend of Offred's from the Time Before, who has recently tried to escape, and Aunt Lydia reminds everyone of the consequence of such an act - their torsos are useful vessels but hands and feet are subject to torturous abuse.
As the Handmaids practice birthing exercises, Offred warns Moira not to attempt another escape. Janine, another Handmaid, shows signs of mental collapse due to the strain of her recent captivity. Both Moira and Offred try to bring her back to her senses without attracting the attention of the brutal Aunts.

Aunt Lydia lectures on the merits of modesty and the Handmaids' higher purpose - it is a privilege to have this opportunity to be fruitful and multiply. No man is considered sterile, and it is the women's role to repopulate the new society.

Moira and Offred have another private conversation in the washroom through the cubicle wall during which Moira announces another plan to flee. Left alone in the washroom, she fashions a weapon out of the toilet lever and uses it to threaten her Aunt out of her uniform, keys and cattleprod.
The Handmaids graduate from the Red Center and receive their headwings.

Act I
On the way to her new assignment, Offred is led to the Wall, a place where the bodies of those who have violated the rules of Gilead are hung as a deterrent. Offred then arrives at the home of her third assignment, and the Wife, Serena Joy, goes over the rules of the house.
Rita, the maidservant or "Martha," escorts Offred to her new room. Offred suddenly recognizes Serena Joy from the Time Before as a famous gospel singer. Elsewhere, Serena Joy plays a videotape of one of her past performances, and we hear her sing Amazing Grace as Offred remembers an encounter with her then-boyfriend Luke from the Time Before.
Rita gives Offred tokens for the shopping, and Offred recalls a moment with Moira from the Time Before. Moira berates Offred for dating Luke under the nose of Luke's wife.

Offred meets her companion Handmaid (and intended moral barometer), Ofglen and they exchange sanctioned conversation while walking to the store. At the Milk & Honey Shop, they spot a heavily pregnant Ofwarren, who is actually Janine from the Red Center. Other Handmaids envy her esteemed status.

Upon her return Offred encounters Nick, the Commander's Guardian, in the driveway but ignores his casual remarks as she has been taught. ("Thou shalt not talk to men.") Entering the kitchen, Offred again recalls an episode from the Time Before. As she and Luke consider marriage, Offred's mother professes her own feminist point of view. Back in real time, Offred enters her room, only to find the Commander in the doorway. Neither speaks as this type of contact is also forbidden. Once alone inside, Offred questions his visit and searches the room. She finds an enigmatic message scrawled inside her wardrobe, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum." She concludes that the previous Handmaid left that message for her and ponders its meaning.
A doctor examines Offred for signs of pregnancy and makes a sexual advance. He offers to help her become pregnant in spite of the extreme danger to both of them. This is Offred's final posting - if unsuccessful, she will be sent to the Colonies. Offred considers his offer.
In another flashback to the Time Before, Offred remembers playing hide-and-seek with Luke and their daughter. Aunt Lydia's voice reminds us that all children of Handmaids born in the Time Before have since been placed with "fit" parents.

Offred remembers the day all of the members of Congress and the President were shot and the state of emergency that followed. Returning to the present, she finds herself with Nick and Rita. Serena Joy enters the room and switches on the television. They all praise Gilead's various successes in the ongoing war. The Commander enters and reads the "Handmaid Passage" from the Bible. Nick and Rita leave the room and the Commander, Serena Joy and Offred perform the monthly impregnation ritual.
Offred enters her bedroom and is shocked to find Nick there, again a violation of the rules. He tells her that the Commander wishes to see her in his study tomorrow night.

At the Red Center Wives and Handmaids gather to witness the birth of Janine/Ofwarren's child. Aunt Lydia presides over the birthing ritual. Offred remembers the Time Before. Moira and her mother detail the increasing limitation of individual rights, and Luke reports that he has been fired by the University. Back in real time, Ofwarren gives birth to a girl, who is immediately given to the Wife of Warren.
Though this type of contact is also forbidden, Offred meets the Commander in his study. Oddly, he only wishes to play a game of Scrabble. Offred wins and as she leaves, the Commander gives her the secret code for future visits - Nick's cap will be on sideways - then asks for a kiss.
Alone in her room, Offred questions the meeting's significance and realizes the hypocrisy of it all, laughing hysterically and collapsing on the floor.

Act II
We find Offred still asleep on the floor. Rita enters and, shocked to find her there, drops the breakfast tray. Offred wakes with a start and claims she fainted. Rita understands this as a sign of pregnancy, but Offred assures her that is not the case.

On another visit with the Commander, Offred is allowed to view fashion magazines from the Time Before, which have been banned since women of the new order are not permitted to read. As Offred leaves, the Commander kisses her again.

The Commander, Serena Joy and Offred have just completed another impregnation ritual during which the Commander tenderly touched Offred's cheek. Afterwards she immediately seeks him out and angrily demands that he never do that again in Serena Joy's presence.

As Rita gives her the tokens for food, Offred remembers the Time Before. She and Moira have been fired and her bank account has been frozen - women are no longer permitted to hold property. Luke promises to always care for her. Offred's mother is nowhere to be found.

On her way out, Offred observes Nick's cap is on sideways. She meets Ofglen, who brings news that Ofwarren's child did not survive. They go to Soul Scrolls to say prayers. While praying, they are able to speak frankly, and Offred learns of a secret organization, "Mayday," whose purpose is to help those trapped in Gilead and eventually overthrow the repressive government. As they speak, Janine/Ofwarren enters and is again in an altered state. She is removed by Guardians.

Offred remembers the Time Before. She and Luke are preparing to escape from Gilead. He has obtained fake passports, and their plan is to fake a "daytrip." At the Canadian border, Luke senses something is amiss and puts the car in reverse. Back in the present, Offred enters the Commander's study. She asks the Commander about himself and about the meaning of the cryptic message in her wardrobe. He identifies the phrase as schoolboy Latin: "Don't let the bastards grind you down." She learns the previous Handmaid hanged herself, and it was Rita who found the body.

As Offred waits for Ofglen at the Wall she recalls the Time Before. She, Luke and their daughter are separated at the border crossing. Back in real time, she greets Ofglen and both observe the newest body hanging on the Wall is a Handmaid - Ofwarren. Ofglen suggests Offred try to obtain secret documents from her Commander, who is in the top echelon of Gilead's leadership, but Offred is hesitant, fearing she may be caught.

Serena Joy calls Offred to the living room and offers her a cigarette. Noting Offred's failure to conceive, Joy clandestinely suggests that she secretly try another man - Nick - who can be trusted. Although this too is illegal, Joy offers to obtain a picture of Offred's daughter as a bribe. Offred agrees to the plan but privately expresses anger over Serena Joy's knowledge of her daughter's whereabouts. Again she remembers the Time Before, her induction into the Red Center, still dressed in her daytrip clothes. She fears for her daughter's safety as hope made her blind to the power of Gilead.
On another visit to the Commander's study, Offred is surprised to learn that they are going out. She is outfitted in a provocative costume, made up, then covered in a Wife's blue cloak. Nick is told to drive to Jezebel's.
Jezebel's is a very private club for Commanders, and Offred is very surprised to find such a place exists that violates nearly every tenant of Gilead's beliefs. She recognizes the hotel as one where she and Luke had once met before his divorce. She spots Moira across the room and they make a tacit agreement to meet in the restroom. Offred's Commander tells her to meet him in a hotel room later.

In the restroom Moira tells Offred that she nearly escaped via the underground but was caught and offered a choice - here or the Colonies.
Offred goes to the hotel room, but recognizing it as the very one she and Luke shared, she is unable to continue the rendezvous.
Back at home Serena Joy confirms with Nick that tonight he will go to Offred. She then shows Offred a picture of her daughter, as promised. After Joy leaves, Nick comes in and they make love.

The Wives and Handmaids have gathered for a "Salvaging," where perpetrators of the Republic of Gilead are punished. A Handmaid is hanged for adultery and a Wife is hanged for murder. Following the Salvaging, the Handmaids gather for the Particicution. A Guardian accused of rape is beaten to death by the Handmaids. Offred is horrified by Ofglen's enthusiastic participation, but Ofglen counters that he was part of the rebellion, and she was knocking him unconscious to spare further pain.

At the Wall Offred is surprised to learn that Ofglen has been replaced by another Handmaid. She soon learns that Ofglen was discovered as a member of the underground and hanged herself.

Back at the house Serena Joy confronts Offred with the awful discovery of lipstick on her cloak. She produces the Jezebel costume and accuses Offred of being with the Commander. Offred, Serena Joy, the Commander and Rita sort out their feelings privately. "Eyes" burst into the house and take Offred into custody. Nick quietly assures her that it is Mayday coming to save her.

Symposium Epilogue
Professor Pieixoto makes his concluding remarks. Offred's fate is not known.