Bliss and passion; fear and pain; shame and regret… If those words together describe your Valentine’s Day, hopefully it’s because you were at Arena Stage’s award-winning production Metamorphoses, a 
visionary retelling of Ovid’s original epic poem recounting the Greek gods’ romantic trials and tribulations.
Written and directed by Tony award-winner Mary Zimmerman, the play is set on a liquid stage– at times representing Poseidon’s dark, tempestuous seas; at others, the watery boundary into the under world…. In it, Narcissus meets his stony fate, Aphrodite weaves her lustful, malicious spells– each scene a 
separate tale where, in one way or another, whether to escape love’s torture or rejoin its bliss, the gods find freedom through transformation– into birds, trees, and other objects.
It’s a beautiful production. Two pieces of advice, though: brush up on your Greek mythology to truly appreciate the artful storytelling. And if you sit in the front row, wear a rain coat!
*Photos credit Teresa Wood
