Olivia Wilder

Professor Stauffer
Theater Survey
10/9/2012
Production Report
Metamorphoses- By Mary Zimmerman- The Lookingglass Theater
As the play came to a close and the audience began to filter out into the lobby, I felt a
need to stay; to sit and let the haunting feeling in my heart fester and set. I was eventually
moved out of the theater, but I continued to feel raw and speechless. My mind would not form
words or responses, only a deep sense of sorrow and confusion prevailed.
The staging of the show provided a sort of tangible, fresh platform on which stories could
be told. The concept of a stage built of water seemed mythical itself. Light bounced off of the
water and onto the actors faces in such a way that it added other-worldly life to the stories. A
chandelier hung from the ceiling, showing the ethereal elegance of the gods. A wall of clouds
separated gods from humans, but a large doorway allowed the gods to traverse from heaven to
earth as they pleased. Humans walked about in simple yet elegant garments, giving the audience
hints of ancient Greece, while the gods were dressed whimsically, providing a glimpse of the
gods sense of humor.
Throughout the six myths performed in Metamorphoses, I felt both a sense of the dark
impossibility of human life, and the joy that love and fulfillment can bring. Although there were
lighter moments in the show, the dark moments seemed to override them. The story that haunted
me most was the heartbreaking tale of Myrrha and her father. Myrrha was cursed by the goddess

Aphrodite with a strong lust for her father and despite her struggles, Myrrha could not rid herself
of her sinful feelings. There was a point in her struggle where Myrrha held a fan in front of her
eyes to block her fathers figure as Aphrodite attempted to force the fan away from Myrrhas
eyes. The two characters, one human, the other goddess, struggled back and forth; Aphrodite
pulling Myrrhas filters from her eyes, showing a red side of the fan, and Myrrha driving it back
into place, shielding her eyes with the pure, white side of the fan. In the end, the strong desires
of the flesh prevailed, and Myrrha lies with her father, not once, but several times, saying, twice
is no worse than once. After Myrrha had gone to her blindfolded father several times, he
wished to see her and after much protesting on Myrrhas part, he took his blindfold off. The
scene that ensued disturbs me still. Myrrhas father became furious, dragging her underwater
and screaming out in anguish as Myrrha cowered, feeling the heaviness of her curse.
The tales of ancient Greece disturbed me not only because of their dark mythology, but
my heart felt the pain of these stories on another level. I grieved with Ceyx as he lost his wife
over and over, my heart bled with Midas as his greed led him to lose his daughter, and there was
an eerie and sincere pain felt for Myrrha as she struggled with the sin she so desired. But the
question that so haunts me is, why am I so easily transported into another world? If these actors
are merely playing characters in a myth, why am I so completely moved and brought to tears by
the stories they tell? The only answer I have is that there must be a deep element of truth to these
myths; they resonate with me in a place that I cannot yet name. I want to go back and experience
Metamorphoses again and again, yet at the same time I want to shut my eyes so tightly that it all
goes away. This is what good theater is: an experience which cannot be tossed aside, but must be
chewed on and held in the heart so that the truth in it may be found.