Odysseus is having a moment.

Director Uberto Pasolini’s “The Return” motion picture was released in 2024.

Director Christopher Nolan’s feature film, “The Odyssey,” is set for release in 2026.

Touchstone Theatre co-founder Bill George presented his one-man show, “Odysseus,” at the Bethlehem theater in 2022 and Philadelphia Fringe Festival in 2023.

These works are based on “The Odyssey,” the Ancient Greek epic (circa 8th century BC) attributed to Homer. It’s the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his 10-year return journey from Troy after the 10-year Trojan War. Odysseus is thought to have died. Penelope, his wife, and their son Telemachus, are forced to fend for themselves.

What of Penelope, you might wonder?

Funny you should ask. Some 29 centuries later, Penelope is having a moment.

“Penelope” is a brilliant, emotionally-riveting and thought-provoking one-woman musical comedy-drama opening the 34th season of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF).

“Penelope,” a PSF co-production with Theatre Horizon, Philadelphia, in previews May 28 and 29, runs May 30 through June 8, Schubert Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University. The May 29 performance was seen for this review.

“Penelope” is enchanting, with a beautiful performance by Rachel Camp in the title role, backed by a superb chamber-music style ensemble. It’s a must-see for fans of contemporary theater.

The music, lyrics and book are by Alex Bechtel, who co-wrote “Penelope” with Grace McLean and Eva Steinmetz, who directs the show.

Bechtel has written haunting, propulsive and enigmatic songs. He has outdone himself in this, his finest work yet at PSF (some eight collaborations with director Matt Pfeiffer).

The 22 music numbers in “Penelope” have a Kronos Quartet meets Carly Simon flavor (for want of a better description). The strings are, by turns, jagged, insistent and soothing, augmented by piano and drums. The musicians, who are on stage, are Music Director Justin Yoder, cello; Nicole Fassold-Harabaruaru, viola; Rachel Massey, violin; Jamison Forman, piano, and Garrett Davis, percussion.

At the center of “Penelope” is Rachel Camp, reprising her Theatre Horizon performance (May 7 to May 18). Camp cajoles, massages and vamps the role and the songs, sashaying across the in-the-round stage, pausing to sit, lay down, and have a cabaret moment in the 70-minute show (with no intermission).

Camp has an amazing vocal range from a whisper to a scream, with every note imbued with a delicate intensity and confident power. The title song, “Penelope,” “Prayer,” “I Do,” “Us” and “Lose My Mind” (with musicians providing lovely vocal harmonies) are among the standouts. Camp brings humorous asides to the role, often in sly direct-address to the audience.

Set and props are by You-Shin Chen. Lighting design is by Thom Weaver. Sound design is by Damien Figueras. Costume design is by Nikki Delhomme.

“Penelope” can be interpreted as more than one woman’s odyssey. “Penelope,” the play and the personage represented in the play, is symbolic of many beleaguered women, especially wives, mothers, daughters and those who await the return of their husbands, boyfriends and significant others who are off to war. The women were and are, in many respects, subject to posttraumatic stress disorder. Penelope was the one who suffered.

As “The Odyssey” myth goes, Odysseus offered Penelope more than an olive branch. He made their bed from a living olive tree. No “second-best bed,” as Shakespeare famously and notoriously willed to his wife Anne Hathaway.

You see, Penelope had a will of her own, and now a show and tell.

“Penelope,” 7:30 p.m. May 28, 29, 30, June 5, 6, 7; 2 p.m. May 31, June 1, 8; 6:30 p.m. June 3; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. June 4, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https://pashakespeare.org/