The Department of Dramatic Arts reminds audiences of the timeless importance of storytelling in their feature production.
A glowing orb backlighting the centre of the stage reflects velvet orange curtains, creating a sparkly hue that glitters against a pond in front of the first row of audience members — the production they are about to see is bound to make a splash. Undoubtably, Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker stage is fit to host gods, mortals and spirits alike.
In the misty orange glow, Brock University’s Dramatic Arts (DART) students bring to life Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, a play inspired by Ovid’s epic poem of the same name.
Metamorphoses is more than just a retelling of ancient mythology. The play draws on the timelessness of storytelling, immersing the audience in the ancient Roman context in which Ovid originally wrote his collection of myths while occasionally reminding them that the play’s interpreters have our modern context in mind.
The connection from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to our contemporary social context is clear when Assistant Director Scott Young Yoo ushers the play into its beginning. Young Yoo begins the production with a land acknowledgement skillfully connected to the play itself. By approaching the land acknowledgement with as much care and thought as the rest of production, Young Yoo successfully conveys the importance of recognizing the land on which our art takes place.
According to Director and DART faculty member Gyllian Raby, the directors aimed to “break away from a colonized view” of artistic education.
“At Marilyn I. Walker, we try to bring a gratitude and awareness of social injustice to the gratitude for our ability to make creative work, because that is something that is robbed of so many people,” said Raby.
Raby’s commitment to gratitude in bringing Metamorphoses to a contemporary audience works favourably in many ways. The modern context is acknowledged not only through overt artistic decisions — like the play’s emphasis on its prefacing land acknowledgement — but also in subtle quips from the play’s characters, who occasionally break away from Ovid’s world to share a humorous comment with the audience, such as comparing the chariot of the sun to a sweet hot rod.
The swift shifts between the ancient setting of the play and the inclusion of modern language keeps audiences intrigued, seeking to know which character they will share a moment with next.
Metamorphoses is a very complex text when it comes to adaptation. As the play spans several myths instead of devoting three acts to just one story, the directors were tasked with threading a connection between the complex stories while maintaining both the attention and understanding of audience members.
Raby mentioned that just one section of the play can include up to twenty-five action units — the smallest unit of action with a distinct beginning, middle and end — which is more than what would appear in a film. During these action units, audiences must understand the cues that signal to which character they are supposed to be watching at any moment while also digesting the dynamics between characters, assuming they do not have a vast knowledge of Ovid’s original poem.
However daunting and deeply intertextual this task may seem, Raby and Young Yoo executed it seamlessly alongside their cast and production teams.
Raby attributed the successful flow in Metamorphoses to Lighting Designer Chris Malkowski and Composer Joe Lapinski. Subtle mood shifts — and even world shifts — are foretold by changing hues and background noises, such as when Orpheus seeks out the long-lost Eurydice in a mysterious underworld, where light only comes in dark purple hues.
Integral to the audience’s immersion into Ovid’s world is the outstanding work of all cast members in the play. According to Raby, the cast was required to do a “complete analysis” of their characters before rehearsals began. Notably, every cast member had more than one role to embody throughout Metamorphoses. Commenting on the intricacy required to perform in Metamorphoses, Young Yoo noted that it is a tough task to understand the inner motives of each separate character, but also increasingly difficult to embody how these motives shift as characters evolve throughout the play.
“There’s a lot of feeling that goes into acting, but then there’s also just this analysis work that you have to accomplish,” said Young Yoo. “If you don’t understand the arc of the story, how is the audience supposed to?”
Fortunately, the whole cast deeply immersed themselves into the feelings, desires and worlds of the characters they embodied. From Gia Lupparelli Nash’s entirely moving and guttural performance as Hunger, dominating the stage with her snarling demands for “more,” to Elliot Barron’s masterful embodiment of the sarcastic and flippant King Midas, the entire cast radiated with passion and a dedication to their craft.
Although Metamorphoses is set in times that have long passed, the play’s dedication to storytelling rings endlessly relevant. Young Yoo said there was a clear “mutual respect” between everyone working on the play as they came together to breathe life into Ovid’s myths.
“There was such a great sense of community, and it was all to just tell stories,” said Young Yoo. “We brought this huge group of artists together to create this beautiful project and it was all to tell stories.”
Filled to the brim with passion from every member of its production, Metamorphoses brings Ovid’s myths to a modern audience and makes clear that the centuries-old appreciation for the craft of storytelling is a timeless one.