“Bodies, I have in mind, and how they can change to assume new shapes-
I ask the help of the gods, who know the trick:
Change me, and let me glimpse the secret and speak,
Better than I know how, of the world’s birthing,
And the creation of all things,
From the first to the very latest.”
–Woman addressing the audience in the beginning of Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses, true to its title, is all about change. In the opening monologue, a woman talks of how bodies can morph into new shapes. The collection of myths that follow these words are told by an ensemble of actors, who all shift again and again into different figures from Greek mythology. Choices that are made in each tale, whether good or bad, trigger a physical or emotional transformation that may turn out to be a gift, a curse or something else altogether. Throughout the production, the consistent element of the play, a pool of water, also transforms and helps symbolize the changes within different characters, whether physically or symbolically.
At its core, water is one of the basic elements of life and is extremely transformative, both in a practical and a symbolic nature. Water nourishes and washes our bodies, our clothes and our world. It is also symbolic of new life. Baptism by immersion or pouring is a transformational rite of passage and a first step toward eternal life in many Christian religions. In many ways, water is often viewed as the source of life itself, evidenced by the countless creation myths in which life emerges from primordial waters.
The ancient Greeks understood the power of transition and transformation that water holds. In Greek mythology, water is omnipresent, with gods and goddesses ruling over its various forms. Poseidon, the god of the sea, for example, embodies the power and unpredictability of the ocean. The Greeks also revered rivers and springs as sacred. The River Styx, as seen in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, symbolically separates the living from the dead.
Moving from liquid to solid to vapor, along with its long history of being associated with change, water is the perfect symbol for metamorphoses, and Mary Zimmerman uses a pool of water to emphasize this throughout the play. For a few characters, the pool of water highlights the transformation from life to death as they sink in the water’s depths. The water also emphasizes new opportunities and transformations that occur as consequences of characters’ actions. In the opening tale, when King Midas first receives his wish to have everything he touches turn into gold, the first action he takes is to reach into the water and pull out a gold seashell, emphasizing his new transformative powers. As another example, in a scene transition further into the production, we see Narcissus, who is captivated by his reflection in the water. As soon as he looks at himself in the pool, however, he is carried away and replaced with a narcissus plant, or daffodil, highlighting his transformation into an object that we humans love to admire as much as he loved to admire himself. Symbolically, water is at the center of every tale told in one way or another.
Water is not just a symbolic presence, however, but also a physical boundary, as seen in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the myth of Alcyone and Ceyx. When the Underworld claims Eurydice, the pool, acting as the River Styx, separates the world of the living from the realm of the dead and marks Eurydice’s sudden tragic transformation as a spirit. Alternatively, as Ceyx sails away from his wife Alcyone, the pool, now symbolizing the sea, represents the separation of a couple that was always together and secure, now unsettlingly uncertain if they will ever reunite. The pool of water, taking up a majority of the space on stage, uses its size as a boundary between characters and their changing relationships.
Although the pool itself does not transform visually, it also morphs as a concept throughout the play, as it is used as several different objects in each myth. In some myths, it represents different bodies of water, such as the sea, a river or exactly as it appears to be: a pool. In a few tales, however, it conceptually shifts in less obvious ways. In a couple of the myths, the pool is used by some characters as a bed to sleep on. In one of the concluding myths, Baucis and Philemon use it as a dining table. In this way, the pool of water morphs as each myth unfolds before the audience.
“Everyone changes. Change is so necessary, yet so painful. It’s the condition of human life. There will be transformation, and you will grow old.”
–Mary Zimmerman, playwright and adapter of Metamorphoses
