Metamorphoses 2023 - Review of Romp Through Mythology by Smith and Gilmour

Is your knowledge of Greek mythology receding? Have you forgotten what makes Tiresias a distinct character in myth? And whom did Oedipus kill and whom did he subsequently marry?
Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour have dug into Ovid’s Metamorphoses and undertaken to revive our memory of some myths and tell about a few that you never knew existed, It is done in Metamorphoses 2023, a play that they have devised and is playing now at Streetcar/Crowsnest Theatre in Toronto.
Smith and Gilmour have their own unique way of dealing with extraordinary ancient stories. Five actors take on some twenty roles and they tell and illustrate a rich variety of myths. On a completely empty stage, dressed in simple black clothes, the actors perform the tales. Perform covers a lot of ground and the five actors cover a great deal. They grunt, they scream, they stomp their feet, they do acrobatics, they change personalities and they tell us the myths that they have chosen.
The performance starts with the five actors (Bob Feetham, Dean Gilmour, Daniel R. Henkel, Neena Jayarajan and Sukruti Tirupattur)  sitting in a row on the stage. They are fussing with their hair, their faces and their clothes, preening themselves. The old man in the group takes his sweater off, puts on a bra and a wig and becomes a woman. He kills a coupling snake and he settles an argument between Jupiter and Juno. Who enjoys sex more, the man or the woman? Juno says the man. Jupiter says the women. Tiresias says the woman, 9 out of 10. The goddess strikes him blind; Jupiter gives him a long life and makes him able to foretell the future.
Smith and Gilmour never settle for straight narrative or any kind of naturalistic representation of any of the myths. Each story is choreographed to illustrate what is going on as we get the basic plot of the story, the authors and the actors rely on us being able to imagine the basic outline of the story.
Some of the myths like those of Narcissus, Acteon and Pentheus of the Bacchae may be familiar. We know that the beautiful and selfish Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in the brook and could not tear himself away. Yes, he became narcissistic, Acteon was punished by a goddess for seeing her by turning him into a deer and being torn to shreds by his own dogs. The crazed Bacchae, followers of Dionysus, tear Pentheus apart for his disbelief.
The myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus  may be less familiar. She was a beautiful nymph in Diana’s coterie but was not interested in hunting. She saw the handsome Hermaphroditus and fell madly in love with him. He did not want her but she forced a kiss on him and then begged the gods to unite them forever. The gods did that and now you know where the term for someone who has male and female parts originates.
Do you recall the story of Caenius? He started as the beautiful nymph Caenis and was raped by the god Neptune. As a reward, she asked him to turn her into the mighty warrior named Caeneus and he did. Caeneus was almost invincible until he engaged the Centaurs (half man, half horse, you will recall) and they went into battle. The actors playing the Centaurs did marvelous work neighing, stomping their feet, making belligerent movements and finally attacking Caeneus. He could not be defeated and we have fine illustrations of them attacking him without any success. They fight him off with branches, (one of the very few props used in the play) and the branches become logs and Caeneus is eventually killed.
Procne and King Tereus were happily married in Thrace. The king went to Athens to bring Procne’s sister Philomela to Thrace and he raped her on the way. She refused to keep her mouth shut so he cut off her tongue and left her behind. He told his wife that her sister was dead but Philomela made it to Thrace. Unable to speak, Philomela wove her story into a tapestry and Procne learned the truth. Revenge? Procne killed and boiled Tereus’ (and her) son and fed him to his father. We see the story mimed and witness Tereus gobbling and slurping his son’s remains. A horrifying scene that I don’t need to add anything more about.
The production is based on superb physical acting, vocalization, mime and prods to our imagination. It is theatre with a difference but I wonder how many people in the audience  knew much about the myths being presented. This  may prove a drawback.
Michele Smith shows great care in her intricate directing of a play that  relies much more on movement, vocalizing and sounds than on words.
Metamorphoses 23 by Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour in collaboration with the performers in a production by Smith-Gilmour Theatre in collaboration with  Crow’s Theatre opened on March 24 and will run until April 9, 2023, at Streetcar/Crowsnest Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.
http://Theatresmithgilmour.com/
http://crowstheatre.com/

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