Even if they don't know the myth, most people will have heard of the concept of the Minotaur, half-bull, half-man, trapped in a labyrinth, killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. What people may not know: the Minotaur was a prince of Crete, the son of Queen Pasiphae. The name Minotaur comes from combining the Greek word tauros (bull) with Minos, Pasiphae's husband and the king. 

Minos and Pasiphae had at least two daughters, Ariadne and Phaedra, the Minotaur's sisters, and together this family has inspired many dramatic responses, from the opera 'Ariadne auf Naxos' by Strauss, to 'Phaedra's Love' by Sarah Kane. 

PASIPHAE by Evie Chandler builds upon these myths in a new, innovative response to the traditional story, examining the life of the often-overlooked matriarch Pasiphae. The daughter of the sun god Helios, Pasiphae occupies an essential role in the Cretan mythic cycle, cursed by Poseidon to bring a bull into the family and be characterised as a disgrace to womanhood for generations after, until she ended up in the 7th Circle of Purgatory in Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. We seek to reclaim that and give Pasiphae her rightful place in history.