Persephone

Lily Jo Ockwell as Persephone

## Appearence

### Clothing

Starts in plain black/grey dress, or black T-Shirt (with 'Gaia' printed on the front, or a yellow smiley face) and shorts, barefoot
Later: Red jumpsuit, fur coat

### Seen In

The Square, Hade's Office, Alighieri's department store, Hesperides' Florist, The Site Office, The Crossed Girders, PEEP Bar, The Elysium Hotel, The Nightclub Office, The White Cypress (Sake Bar), The Palladium, The Tents, The Stone Table, Troy, Mycenae

### Seen With

Hades, Askalaphos, Kampe, Peep Cabaret, Zagreus, Apollo, The Watchman, Laocoön, Polymestor, Hecuba, Iphigenia

## Relationship Information

### Family

Wife to Hades, Potential Mother to Zagreus & Iphigenia (when resurrected as Hecate)

## Cast

### Played By

Anna Finkel, Fania Grigoriou, Lily Jo Ockwell, Mallory Gracenin, Stephanie Nightingale, WenHsin Lee, Yilin Kong

Persephone is the Queen of the Underworld, and wife to Hades.

Her story arc revolves around trying to remember who she is, and what her place in the city is exactly, after emerging from the River Lethe, having been wiped clean of all her memories.

She is also one of only two characters in the show who have a single loop, as opposed to three consecutive loops.

## Loop

She enters The Square, via the Well, at the end of Loop 1, and makes her way to Hades' Office, following the trail of daffodils left for her by Hades.

Once inside the office, Hades awkwardly attempts to comfort her, showing her their wedding photograph to jog her memory. He reassures her that she will remember everything in time, and gives her a set of keys, before telling her "I can help you, but I can't guide you.", and promptly leaving.

She then makes her way to Alighieri's, where she steals a red jumpsuit hanging in the shop window, and a pair of heels from inside a box on the display, and changes into them from out of her wet clothes in the backroom of the shop. She steals a fur coat from off of the mannequin model, and finds a torch in the pocket.

She enters Hesperides', and is greeted by Askalaphos, who asks her to make a bouquet for him. She choses a pre-made one from the display, when he asks her to add a flower of her own; she does this, but in unwrapping the bouquet, finds a crumpled up Permit Pass wrapped around a small metal horse figure inside. The pair share a few words, as she confronts him about the fact that all the flowers in the shop are fake.

She enters PEEP to watch Kampe dance to 'Liquid Smoke'. The PEEP Cabaret Hosts drop a martini glass on the floor before introducing Hades to the stage, who serenades her with 'If I Didn't Have Your Love'.

Flustered, she flees PEEP and stumbles into The Square, but becomes frightened by the sound of the impending Mycenean invasion, and is bumped into by a panicked Zagreus. She is swept away by Hades into his office. He locks the office door, shuts the curtains and places a pair of headphones over her ears, and plays a guided meditation tape to calm her panic attack. As she listens to the meditation, he hands her a toy pomegranate, and she begins to writhe around on his desk, before cowering behind it - when she regains composure she realises she has unwittingly transformed the fake pomegranate into a real one.

By torchlight, she travels across to Mycenae, and rifles through the documents in the The Site Office where she finds an identical Permit Pass to one she found in her pocket, before being drawn away towards The Crossed Girders by Apollo, who hugs her warmly. She moves to The Crate Room and spies through the various crates, before finding one containing a dead horse. She inspects the horse and retrieves a single coin from its mouth. Upon leaving The Crate Room she is confronted by The Watchman, who asks to see her documents; she shows her Permit Pass and is granted permission to leave.

She returns to Troy, where she comes across Laocoön who first tries to steal the coin from her, before bargaining to trade it for a small key. She obliges, as he directs her to the telephone beneath the stairs of The Elysium Hotel. Although it does not ring, she picks up the phone and talks to an unknown caller who asks her to describe an imaginary party.

Returning to Hades' Office, she studies the contents of her Permit Pass closer, and discovers that her real name is 'Judith Kore'. Hades finds her in the office, and the pair tango together out the door and into the The Square. He ends the dance by giving her a flower, and asking that she promise to come back to him, as she sneakily steals a set of keys from the cabinet.

She ventures upstairs to The Nightclub Office, where she witnesses Hecuba blinding Polymestor and watches in horror, through the window. Taking pity on him, she washes his face and uses her hands to restore his eyesight - much to her own astonishment. Using the key she stole, she is able to unlock a small compartment within Polymestor's Moloch statue, and from within it retrieves a small sapling under a glass bell jar.

She takes the sapling to the Greenhouse Room, in The Elysium Hotel, where she finds Askalaphos sat inside, and offers it to him. He trades her the sapling for a larger version of the plant.  Suddenly she is overcome with a surging power, and rattles the greenhouse rigorously. Before leaving, Askalaphos hands her a small packet of seeds, which she slips into her coat pocket.

Making her way back into the streets of Troy, Persephone is beckoned by Laocoön into his encampment, and given a palm reading. As he does so, his radio begins to play the phone call that she had previously (regarding the party) only this time we can hear both sides of the conversation. As she looks up, she suddenly becomes aware of the presence of the WMs watching her, and becomes overwhelmed with emotion.

Next, she stumbles into The White Cypress, where she shares a drink with Zagreus - she asks him about the WMs, but he does not respond. She then goes on to ask if the two of them have met before, but he has no recollection of such.

Returning to the backstreets of Troy, Persephone begins to talk directly to the WMs, asking if they see her. She then confesses to them her fears that everything around her is repeating itself. Hearing 'Liquid Smoke' playing for the second time, she returns to PEEP to see the same routine being performed by Kampe - this time she is able to catch the dropped martini glass before it hits the floor, and rejoices in her foresight. She follows this by performing 'If I Didn't Have Your Love', herself, on the stage.

She returns to The Square and begins whispering about hearing a sound "like an engine" (predicting the impending invasion), and admits it doesn't scare her anymore. She then predicts Zagreus bumping into her, before retiring to Hades' Office and calmly closing the curtains, once inside. Hades joins her and the pair play a silent game of draughts, before Persephone becomes enraged and lets out an almighty silent scream, that sends Hades rolling onto the floor. She goes to hold him, but he is seemingly turned to stone. Eventually, after desperately trying to make him move, she force-feeds him a pomegranate until he is reinvigorated. She demands Hades show her everything, to which he obliges.

Taking a few WMs with her, she stands on the Palladium balcony, as Hades speaks to her from The Square.

She re-emerges from The Tents, in Mycenae, and watches as Iphigenia (now resurrected as Hecate) kills Patroclus on The Crossed Girders, and collects his tears in a small vial, before handing it to Persephone. As she passes The Site Office, on her way back to Troy, she greets The Watchman, handing them the seeds given to her by Askalaphos.

She returns to Hades' Office and listens to her guided meditation tape again, only this time it is different and more direct. Hades joins her, as the pair pull back the rug on the floor, and lift up the floorboards, revealing hundreds more vials nestled in sand.

With Hades by her side, Persephone heads towards Mycenae (not before greeting Hecuba warmly, wiping her hands clean with a cloth, as she finishes blinding Polymestor). After Iphigenia descends the staircase during the Mycenae Finale, Persephone ascends it to meet with Hades atop the balcony, where the pair share a pomegranate together, overseeing the falling of the damned souls, below.

## 1:1s

Persephone has three '1:1' scenes, including a walk-out, plus two additional unique experiences: the VIP prologue, and the Porsche Experience introduction (exclusively available to a select few who were chosen).

During the first loop, Persephone will meet the VIPs in Peep Bar and introduce herself as Judith Kore. She hands them each a coin adorned with the image of a maze on one side and a horse on the other before leading them into the museum, introducing the various objects on display. As they progress through the museum, she alludes to having a personal fondness for Greek mythology, even noting her own connection to Persephone, as her last name "Kore" was another name for her. She expresses that while most versions of the myth of Hades and Persephone describe Persephone as Hades' prisoner, she thinks of it as a love story. As she is about to tell another story, the lights suddenly go out, and she nervously leads the group into a tunnel where the floor is covered in sand. She discovers a daffodil growing from the sand, before eventually directing the group to head down the tunnel, where they are met by a cloaked figure who collects their coins, eventually emerging in Mycenae.

After transforming the pomegranate in Hades' Office, Hades will unlock his office cabinet to reveal a crawlspace. Persephone will disappear through here, as Hades urges a few people to join her, before locking up the cabinet again. Inside the crawlspace room is a platform with a desk atop it, with a cassette player and a pair of headphones; above the desk is a large display of newspaper clipping, photographs and letters. Persephone will quickly climb atop the platform, sit at a desk, place the headphones over her ears, and begin to record a new meditation tape. After a failed attempt to articulate her calming instructions, frustrated, she stops the recording and produces a hand mirror from the desk, which she uses to stare at the WMs around her, while delivering a monologue. She goes on to speak of the nature of memory, and her fears around losing her own. She soon confesses that it is "your face" that guides her the most through these troubling episodes, and expresses that it is her devotion to "you" that will keep her coming back. Throwing the headphones back down on the desk, she climbs down from off the platform and exits with the WMs through a back door, leading behind Hades' Office. \*

Towards the end of her loop, after the draughts game with Hades, she will take a few WMs into a private scene, behind the balcony, above The Palladium doors (via the 'Stage Door'). From here, an audio recording will play, revealing Hades' original promise to Judith (now Persephone), to provide Iphigenia (resurrected as Hecate) as her handmaiden, with the mission of collecting tears of both sorrow and joy from the inhabitants of his city, for her. The recording gets stuck, and it is revealed that the record needle is missing from its museum display case. Persephone will then hurriedly lead the WMs back through the museum exhibits they walked past on their way into the show and into a dimly lit hallway, with sand covering the floor. She finds a small piece of chalk on the ground, and by torchlight draws on the walls before writing "I remember.", before shining the torch across the walls to reveal hundreds of scrawled "I remember"s. She warmly grants the WMs safe passage, and welcomes them home, before leading them out into The Tents, in Mycenae.

Finally, upon the conclusion of the Mycenae Finale, Persephone and Hades will walk back through to Troy, happily wrapped in each others arms, before stopping at the entrance for The Elysium Hotel, wherein they will invite a WM inside with them. Here, they will invite the WM to sit in between them as Hades talks on the phone. He speaks of booking the honeymoon suite but no one is there to greet them. Not being able to give their real names they make up a fake Mr and Mrs name and hang up the call. After which, they turn to the WM thanking them for coming and being grateful they could be there, saying “This has all been for you.” as both Hades and Persephone place half a pomegranate in each hand of the WM and squash it together all holding hands. The pair then guide the WM out, waving and speaking in unison “Goodbye”.

\* This private scene wasn't added until late 2022.

## Final show (24 September 2023)

Lily Jo Ockwell performed the VIP introduction at the top of the show, however Stephanie Nightingale played Persephone on her entrance into Troy, continuing the role through most of the second loop until her and Hades' waltz. During the waltz, Nightingale and Eric Jackson Bradley visibly swapped places with Ockwell and Sam Booth, who continued the roles for the rest of the show. However, Nightingale and Bradley returned during the Troy finale, watching the events from the Palladium balcony.

Upon arriving at the Stage Door towards the end of Loop 3, Persephone surveyed the massive crowd of WMs, and after brief consideration ushered in as many people as she could fit before closing the door, apologizing to those who had to be locked out. As she ventured through the maze, she encouraged those present to help her in recalling the words to Hades' poem.

Upon the conclusion of the Mycenae finale, Hades and Persephone's voices played over the speakers, as the couple reaffirmed to each other that this was their city to share. Joining the crowd on the stairs, they were presented with the record player, joining each other in removing the needle to symbolize the conclusion of the show's run.

After the curtain call, however, Hades noticed something on the record and called for everyone's attention: "Wait... wait!"

"What?" Persephone asked.

"There are... two sides to this record!" he exclaimed, apparently noticing this for the first time.

"So..." Persephone replied slyly. "What's on the other side?"

Persephone later appeared in Peep after the Peep Cabaret finale to perform "Life on Mars" for the gathered attendees.

## Trivia

Her initial costume appears to change from show to show; sometimes it is a plain dark dress, other times it is a black t-shirt with either a smiley face, or the word 'Gaia' printed on it, and cutoff shorts.

During previews several alternate finales were trialed, including one in which Hades and Persephone lured a blinded Polymestor to the office chair in Hades' Office, and sat him in full view of 'The Fall of the Damned' painting behind the desk, reminding him of his incoming fate.

## Mythology

* Persephone is the daughter of Demeter (Goddess of Harvest).
* She is the Goddess of Spring and Death - according to mythology she is the embodiment of the cycle of the seasons; it is said that Persephone spends six months of the year in the Underworld, and in that time Demeter's sorrow causes the cold of winter.
* According to mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, who had grown lonely in the Underworld, but soon grew to love him, Knowing that if she ate or drank anything in the Underworld, she would have to stay there forever, Persephone fasted. She was eventually granted permission to visit her mother, but before returning to the surface was tempted into eating six pomegranate seeds. Although she was reunited with Demeter, as she had eaten whilst in the Underworld, it was agreed that for six months of each year, she must stay in the Underworld with Hades, and in the spring she would once again return to her mother.
* Within the show, Zagreus and Persephone's relationship is kept deliberately ambiguous, and it is never confirmed whether he is canonically her son, as although he does interact with her several times, there is no clear motherly connotation, within these occasions. There is some implication that she is the mother of Iphigenia (who is implied to have been resurrected in the form of Hecate, sometimes also known as Melinoe, after her sacrifice), within the reveal in her 1:X, stating that she was gifted to her by Hades to serve as a handmaiden; this is the strongest implication thus far of any kind of in-show familial connection.