Myths are public Dreams,
And Dreams are private Myths
It is such pleasure to go to a play and enjoy every minute of it. I went to a performance of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses in our university tonight. I had been to her adaptation of Haft-Peykar (Mirror of the invisible worlds) in Chicago this summer and quite liked it. But this one tonight cast a spell on me. You know I am a sucker for stories and this play is an adaptation of nine of the stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the tales of ancient gods and heroes. A celebration of love and life, connecting the lives of these mythical characters to our contemporary experiences. She pronounces the Power of love in healing, restoration and survival. Stories so wonderfully told and played,
- The story of Midas and his golden touch,
- Alcyone and Ceyx and the secret of those seven calm days of the oceans,
- Erysichthon whose insatiable hunger had him ate himself,
- Orpheus who went to the underworld to bring back his love Eurydic
- Myrrha who refused to take a lover and thus brought Aphrodite's fury upon her
- Phaeton who asked for his dad's car keys(!)
- Eros and his forbidden love for the the beautiful Psyche
- And of Baucis and Philemon and their wish to die together.
The set was also very impressive with a real big pool full of water in the middle and the gods passage on the top. During the play, the sounds of water and the reflections on the pool surface added much to the magic of the play. If you are around, don't miss this wonderful performance.
9 comments:
Jeer Jan: Doostan be jaye ma!
I wasn't familiar with the Greek myths until my son told me about them when he was sixteen. He knows so much about every one of them, and he and I compared notes on some of the similarities of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh characters and the Greek ones, for example, Achilles and Esfandiar. I don't want to bore you with the similarities if you already know them, but if you don't, it will be my pleasure to share.
Thank you for your report, but thank you more importantly for letting me know how happy and relaxed you are tonight. I am still bummed out I won't be able to see you next weekend, but I trust that you will be in good hands. I did remind Bayram about his promise of fresh pistachios to you. Be good azizam. Dream of Gods and Goddesses dancing on a pool tonight.
wwwwwwwwwwowwwwwwwwwwwwww
I'm jealous ;
what a wonderful night you had ;
I wish you happpiness and love my dear jeerjeer
I'll write again to you!
when I was a little girl, I liked going pool and dancing in water; and your post remember me that memories ; but now I just dream about it and sometimes I can see performance about it with my unseeing friend; thanks again for this post; thanks , thanks jeerjeeri...
Jeerjeerak Joonam
Oh,
That is an amazing performance. I am Jealous too. your post reminded me of my undergrad years; For the History of Theater and play-scripts we had to study many of these Public Dreams.
Tameshk jan, stay put in Cali, i want to see you:)
Banoo jan, someday my friend someday. It's a small world after all.
Nazy joonam, yes tell me about it. I can't help but wonder if Ferdowsy could have by any chance access to these Greek/Roman stories...
Jeerjeerak joonam
I could not find your email address:
here is mine: roja_film@yahoo.com
If you email me I will email you my cell# and we can arrange something for Friday.
jeer jeeri mishe yani?
Jeerjeer khanom,
Thanks a lot for blogging your visit to the play. Why?
I check your blog once in a while when my life is less hectic and spares me with a few minutes. And that is what I did last Thursday afternoon. Tired and angry of all the work I had to do in the lab, I checked your web log to recharge and here it was: a play. I love plays and the last time I saw one was 5 years ago. Your description of the play reminded me of how much I miss that and in all despair called the ticket center to hear that it was sold out. Well, it was not and I got to experience another magical night. So thanks a lot and hope to go to a play together in future :)
Faezeh
Faezeh jan, I'm real glad you got a chance to see this fantastic act. And also happy that my scribbling here got someone to experience the pleasure i got from it.
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