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Tuesday, August 1, 2006
‘Metamorphoses’ at Georgia Shakes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Through Aug. 20. Grade: B -
In Mary Zimmerman’s “Metamorphoses,” scale is everything.
Instead of thunderbolt and lightning and the clash of titans, the stories of ancient mythology are reduced to their human essence. The workings of man come across like a little play that the gods put on for their own entertainment.
That’s certainly the effect of watching Georgia Shakespeare’s sometimes overtly comic take on the Chicago playwright’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of the tales of Ovid.
Director Richard Garner’s approach may lack the gossamer delicacy of Zimmerman’s seminal New York production. But in these stories of Zeus, Midas, Orpheus, Aphrodite and numerous others, Georgia Shakespeare’s 10-member ensemble manages to stir up its own brand of aquatic alchemy.
As you may have heard by now, the 90-minute mythological cycle occurs in a 25-foot-long reflecting pool. And while the exercise requires a good measure of watery flailing and frolicking, the most effective moments are the quiet ones.
Hunger (Courtney Patterson) consumes King Erysichthon (Brandon J. Dirden) in an orgy of gluttony. Hoping to seduce Pomona (Park Krausen), Vertumnus (Joe Knezevich) slips into a drag disguise reminiscent of a Monty Python skit. King Ceyx (Daniel May) battles the henchman of the underworld in a fight sequence that would make White Water’s lifeguards cringe.
But the most heartbreaking images are those of Orpheus (May) turning around to look at Eurydice (Crystal Dickinson); Cinyras (Chris Kayser) removing his blindfold to realize that he’s been in congress with his daughter (Kelley Ristow); and Alcyone (Krausen) and Ceyx being transformed into seabirds that mate during the halcyon days.
Designer Tim Conley has done a first-class job of constructing the pool, a black trapezoid framed by a purple-blue backdrop of shimmering stars and an Olympus-like peak. Christine Turbitt’s costumes are lovely to look at, though the queenly wigs and gowns sometimes seem a bit Evita-ish for this elemental staging. And lighting designers Liz Lee and Mike Post bathe the whole affair with a mixture of murky luminescence and crystalline clarity.
All that said, you sometimes sense that the cost of this highly technical process came at the expense of precision and detail. Songs have been added when spoken language would suffice, and the scene in which Orpheus performs a vocal number while being sprayed with a shower of water from above seems especially superflous. Finally, the whispering of lines at the end of the show is downright hokey.
While the acting is generally good, a few performances rise to the top. Knezevich continues to hand in the best work of his Atlanta career, and he’s particularly fine as Midas. Chris Ensweiler finds the perfect tone as the spoiled-rotten Phaeton. And though May is required to flit around in the nude with a pair of white-feathered wings attached to his back, he does it without the least bit of preciousness.
Theater-goers who arrive expecting a carbon copy of Zimmerman’s staging may be disappointed. But newcomers are certain to be captivated —- by the pool, yes, but also by the primal urgency of the stories. Again and again, love conquers death, and sorrow is subsumed by the undertow of time.
THE 411: 8 p.m Tuesdays-Sundays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Aug. 20. $15-$40. Contains nudity and adult situations. Presented by Georgia Shakespeare. Conant Performing Arts Center, Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-264-0020, www.gashakespeare.org.
The verdict: Doesn’t quite hit it, but often comes close.
