by Mary Zimmerman
In and around a pool of water at stage center, tales are told of mankind and the gods in their most passionate moments: the gods who play their cruel jokes by a bestowing upon one man the golden touch and condemning another to be forever hungry; gods arguing over the fate of a mortal more beautiful than Aphrodite; touching stories of separated lovers rejoined in an afterlife as seabirds in flight, and a love so strong that even the Underworld offers no deterrent.
And no modern retelling would be complete without a bit of tongue-in-cheek: Phaeton, the son of Apollo, is in therapy because he borrowed the keys to his father’s chariot and burned the Earth by flying too close to it, and Eros and Psyche face a question and answer psychotherapy session.
Metamorphoses is a retelling of eight Greek and Roman myths and legends, proving that the human condition is timeless, and that water is the source, playground and endpoint of everything.
