Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” was performed at PSU Thurs., Nov. 20 and remained in Silver until Sun., Nov. 23. The production took place in Studio Theatre in a small pool, with 13 PSU student actors and actresses, playing more than 20 characters. Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” is a narrative poem consisting of fifteen books that describe the creation and history of the world. While Ovid’s mythological books are about a serious subject, Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation has no serious notion to reality and no concept of reality.
The production began with the “The Woman in the Water.” This opened the scene as she narrated poetically on the creation of the world and man. The woman in the water transitioned into a scientist, in the initial opening scene, dressed in a white lab coat and holding a bottle of dirt and water, the scientist explained the scientific possibility of the creation of the world.
The actual first myth was King Midas, narrated by three laundresses. This act was the most well known myth out of the 10 myths in the play. King Midas saves a drunken Silenus, follower of the god of wine from nearly drowning, and was granted one wish. He wished to have everything he touched turn to gold; the consequence was that everything would turn to gold, even his daughter when he hugged her. Midas is told by the god of wine to search for a pool across the world where he can see his reflection and his wish will be reversed.
The second myth, also narrated by the three laundresses, was a story about King Ceyx and his wife Alcyone. Ceyx, not willing to listen to his wife, decided to voyage out into the sea, and was ultimately defeated by Poseidon. Alcyone, waiting for his return, had a dream that Ceyx told her to go to the shore. She did what her dream told her, and was turned into a sea bird and flew away with Ceyx, who had also transformed into a bird.
The third myth was the story of Eryischthon, a godless and selfish human who decided to cut down a tree that was sacred to Ceres, the goddess of agriculture. Ceres turned angry and in revenge had the spirit of hunger take over Eryischthon, which caused him to eventually get so desperate as to eat himself when he couldn’t fufill his hunger.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is a twice told story. The story started with Eurydice dying on their wedding day. Orpheus, so distraught, traveled to the Underworld to work out a deal to retrieve Eurydice. After singing a mournful song, Hades was convinced to let Eurydice return with Orpheus on one condition: Eurydice must follow Orpheus from behind and he cannot look back at her, and if he should, she must stay in the Underworld forever. Orpheus agrees to the terms, and when almost back to the living world, he doubtfully looked back. Hermes took her away and brought her back to the Underworld. The action was repeated several times, resembling the memory that Orpheus has forever lost his bride.
The next act was about an adorable wood nymph named Pomona and a hopeless romantic Vertumnus. Pomona refused the hands of many suitors and remained alone among her daily routine of picking flowers in the woods. Vertumnus, in order to see her, disguised himself in a variety of costumes, always trying to get Pomona to fall in love with him. After telling the story of Myrrha, Pomona told Vertumnus to take off his disguise and the two became smitten in love.
Subliminally within the Pomona and Vertumnus myth, the act of “Myrrha” was about King Cinyras and his daughter Myrrha. After denying Aphrodite’s constant love attempts Myrrha was cursed by Aphrodite to lust over her father. Myrrha had three sexual encounters with her father, each time making sure he was drunk and blindfolded so he wouldn’t suspect it was her. The third time Cinyras took off his blindfold and strangled Myrrha, who escaped and is never to be seen again.
The story of Phaeton was in the form of Phaeton narrating his relationship with his father, Apollo, to a therapist. Phaeton told the audience of a distanced relationship with his father. After being bullied at school, Phaeton went on a journey to meet his father, whose job was to drive the Sun across the sky every day. Full of guilt from fatherly neglect, Apollo allowed Phaeton to “drive” the Sun across the sky as compensation for all the years of absent parenting. Phaeton, who constantly whined, drove the Sun too close to the Earth and scorched it. The therapist closed the scene with a monologue about the difference between myth and dream.
The most heart felt myth of the production is of Eros and Psyche, being narrated by a couple waltzing outside of the pool. The myth was about Psyche falling in love with Eros. Psyche and Eros remained silent during the whole interlude, but acted out what the couple narrated. Eros and Psyche fell in love with one another, while the dancing couple told the audience that Eros and Psyche might wander in the dark of loneliness until they blind themselves to personal romantic desires and give into a deeper love.
To end the production Zeus and Hermes disguised themselves as beggars on earth in order to know what it’s like to be human. After being shunned by every house in the city, they are accepted into the house of the poor married couple, Baucis and Philemon. The married couple fed the gods with a great feast; not knowing the true identity of the strangers accepted that they are “children of God.” After the feast, the gods revealed themselves and granted the two a wish. Baucis and Philemon ask to die at the same time to save each other grief of death, and the gods reponded by turning their house into a grand palace and the couple into a pair of trees with branches intertwined. The end scene was Midas returning to the stage, finding the pool, washing, and is restored. His daughter entered, healed and the two embrace.
As outlandish as this script was, it was refreshing to have PSU’s theatre program choose to do something modern in comparison to the past choices of this semester. Along with the choice of Mary Zimmerman’s work, the lighting design helped set the mood for a lot of the abstract nature in the show, making it easier for the audience to understand the scene changes. It was revivifying to have a different type of set, as well as non-defective projections in the background of scenes. While some actors did play their cliché roles, the overall end results were satisfactory having all but two shows sell out. It is safe to say that “Metamorphoses” was the best production to have PSU’s theatre program end the semester with.
While there are no more productions from PSU’s theatre department for this semester there are several events happening throughout December such as Piano Concerto Concert this