"Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths." The
Guthrie's production of Metamorphoses, from which this quote comes, feels like a dream and a myth, gorgeously come to life on stage. I knew nothing about this play going into it, and was absolutely enthralled by it. Some of the myths relayed in the play were familiar to me, some entirely new. The play is only 90 minutes long, so only 10-15 minutes is spent on each myth. But the telling is so exquisite that each one feels like a full, rich, complete story. Playwright Mary Zimmerman directs the play she wrote 20+ years ago. When the same person writes and directs, it creates such a singular vision, a clear and cohesive storytelling, and that's definitely the case here. You don't need to know anything about mythology to see this play, and don't let that word scare you. This is not a dry history lesson from long ago, it's a fluid, captivating, beautiful retelling of these archetypal stories that still resonate.
