HEIGHTENED: Costume and Props Design for Zimmerman's Metamorphoses

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2018-01-25 HEIGHTENED: Costume and Props Design for Zimmerman's Metamorphoses

Uwadiae, Sarah

Uwadiae, S. O. (2018). HEIGHTENED: Costume and Props Design for Zimmerman's Metamorphoses (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB doi:10.11575/PRISM/5462 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/106381 master thesis

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HEIGHTENED:

Costume and Props Design for Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses

Sarah Osaro Uwadiae

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN DRAMA

CALGARY, ALBERTA

JANUARY, 2018

ABSTRACT

HEIGHTENED:

Costume and Props Design for Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses

Sarah O. Uwadiae

This paper chronicles and evaluates the process of design, realization and execution of the costumes and props for Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, which was produced in the Reeve Theatre at the University of Calgary on Nov 24 – Dec 2, 2017.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My utmost gratitude goes to the following people for their contribution to my thesis show.

Haysam Kadri, Director Cayley Wreggitt, Assistant Director Travis Hatt, Set, Lighting and Projection Designer Abdullah Soydan, Sound Designer Jennifer (Jenny) Yeung, Stage Manager Virginia Maxwell and Rianne Allen, Costume ASMs Nicole Logan, Props ASM Andrew North, Production Manager Trevor McDonald, Technical Supervisor Lisa Roberts, Wardrobe Manager Halina Supernat, Wardrobe Assistant Julia Wasilewski, Props Master Scott Freeman, Scenic Carpenter

And to every member of the cast and crew involved in this production not mentioned; thank you for your hard work and dedication.

DEDICATION

To Emmanuel and Florence, my father and mother. I honour you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ii DEDICATION ...... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... iv LIST OF FIGURES ...... v INTRODUCTION ...... 1 ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT ...... 2 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ...... 18 DESIGN EXECUTION AND EVOLUTION ...... 35 DESIGN IN PERFORMANCE ...... 49 SUMMARY ...... 53 WORKS CITED ...... 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 57 APPENDIX A – COPYRIGHT APPROVAL FROM CITRUS PHOTOGRAPHY ...... 59 APPENDIX B - COSTUME SKETCHES & RESULTS ...... 60 APPENDIX C - PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHS ...... 82

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1. Ponce, Sigrid. Fashion Photography. 2013. Behance.net...... 15 Fig. 2. Author’s Collage of Headpieces...... 17 Fig. 3. Ile Ori (Shrine of the Head). 19th - 20th Century. Metmuseum.org ...... 19 Fig. 4. Author’s Diagram of the different Planes in the world of Metamorphoses...... 20 Fig. 5. Author’s Diagram of The Characters within their Planes in the World of Metamorphoses ...... 21 Fig. 6. Author’s Collage of Costume Inspirations...... 24 Fig. 7. Author’s Collage of Props Inspirations ...... 25 Fig. 8. Author’s Preliminary Design of Zeus ...... 28 Fig. 9. Author’s Final Design of Zeus ...... 28 Fig. 10. Author’s Preliminary Design of Hades ...... 28 Fig. 11. Author’s Final Design of Hades ...... 28 Fig. 12. Author’s Preliminary Design of Aphrodite ...... 29 Fig. 13. Author’s Final Design of Aphrodite ...... 29 Fig. 14. Author’s Preliminary Design of Ceres ...... 30 Fig. 15. Author’s Final Design of Ceres ...... 30 Fig. 16. Author’s Final Design of Apollo ...... 32 Fig. 17. Author’s Final Design of Therapist ...... 32 Fig. 18. Author’s Final Design of Phaeton ...... 32 Fig. 19. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx #1 ...... 33 Fig. 20. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx #2 ...... 33 Fig. 21. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Hades in fitting ...... 36 Fig. 22. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Midas in fitting ...... 36 Fig. 23. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Oread in fitting ...... 36 Fig. 24. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Nursemaid in fitting ...... 36 Fig. 25. First part of the Final Costume List ...... 37 Fig. 26. First part of the Wet and Dry List – Version 1 ...... 39 Fig. 27 Author's Collage of Eros & Psyche References ...... 40 Fig. 28. Midas’ Daughter’s Dress (before the top part was covered) ...... 41 Fig. 29. Show Photo of Denizens. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 43 Fig. 30. Banwell, Tom. Raven leather mask in black. Hermes Mask Inspiration Wanelo.com ...... 44 Fig. 31. Author’s Final Design of Hermes ...... 45 Fig. 32. Author’s Final Design of Hermes’ Mask ...... 45 Fig. 33. Author’s Photograph of Hermes Mask before alterations ...... 46 Fig. 34. Author’s Photograph of Hermes Mask after alterations ...... 46 Fig. 35. Author’s Vectorworks Drafting of the Music Stand ...... 46 Fig. 36. Author’s Photograph of the Music Stand ...... 47 Fig. 37. Author’s Prelim. Design of Hunger ...... 48 Fig. 38. Author’s Final Design of Hunger ...... 48 Fig. 39. Author’s Photograph of Hunger ...... 48 Fig. 40. The Scientist holding the Glowing Orb. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 49 Fig. 41. Sleep summoning Morpheus. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 50 Fig. 42. Author’s Final Design of Zeus ...... 59 Fig. 43. Author’s Photograph of Zeus ...... 59 Fig. 44. Author’s Photograph of Zeus ...... 60 Fig. 45. Author’s Final Design of Hermes ...... 59 Fig. 46. Author’s Photograph of Hermes ...... 59 Fig. 47. Author’s Photograph of Hermes as Beggar ...... 60 Fig. 48. Author’s Final Design of Bacchus ...... 60 Fig. 49. Author’s Photograph of Bacchus ...... 61 Fig. 50. Author’s Final Design of Apollo ...... 60 Fig. 51. Author’s Photograph of Apollo ...... 61 Fig. 52. Author’s Final Design of Poseidon ...... 61 Fig. 53. Author’s Photograph of Poseidon ...... 61 Fig. 54. Author’s Photograph of Poseidon as Narrator ...... 62 Fig. 55. Author’s Final Design of Hades ...... 61 Fig. 56. Author’s Photograph of Hades ...... 61 Fig. 57. Author’s Photograph of Persephone ...... 62 v

Fig. 58. Author’s Final Design of Eros ...... 62 Fig. 59. Author’s Photograph of Eros ...... 63 Fig. 60. Author’s Photograph of Eros ...... 62 Fig. 61. Author’s Photograph of Eros ...... 63 Fig. 62. Author’s Final Design of Sleep ...... 63 Fig. 63. Author’s Photograph of Sleep ...... 64 Fig. 64. Author’s Final Design of Hunger ...... 63 Fig. 65. Author’s Photograph of Hunger ...... 64 Fig. 66. Author’s Final Design of Aphrodite ...... 64 Fig. 67. Author’s Photograph of Aphrodite ...... 65 Fig. 68. Author’s Final Design of Ceres ...... 64 Fig. 69. Author’s Photograph of Ceres ...... 65 Fig. 70. Author’s Final Design of Iris ...... 65 Fig. 71. Author’s Photograph of Iris ...... 66 Fig. 72. Author’s Final Design of Laundress ...... 65 Fig. 73. Author’s Photograph of Laundress ...... 66 Fig. 74. Author’s Final Design of Scientist ...... 66 Fig. 75 . Author’s Photograph of Scientist ...... 67 Fig. 76. Author’s Final Design of Midas ...... 66 Fig. 77. Author’s Photograph of Midas ...... 66 Fig. 78. Author’s Photo of Midas in Swimsuit ...... 67 Fig. 79. Author’s Final Design of Midas’ Servant ...... 67 Fig. 80. Author’s Photograph of Midas’ Servant ...... 68 Fig. 81. Author’s Final Design of Silenus ...... 67 Fig. 82. Author’s Photograph of Silenus ...... 68 Fig. 83. Author’s Final Design of Midas’ Daughter ...... 68 Fig. 84. Author’s Photograph of Midas’ Daughter ...... 69 Fig. 85. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx ...... 68 Fig. 86. Author’s Photograph of Ceyx ...... 69 Fig. 87. Author’s Final Design of Dead Ceyx ...... 69 Fig. 88. Author’s Photograph of Dead Ceyx ...... 70 Fig. 89. Author’s Final Design of Sailor ...... 69 Fig. 90. Author’s Photograph of Sailor ...... 70 Fig. 91. Author’s Final Design of Henchman ...... 70 Fig. 92. Author’s Photograph of Henchman ...... 71 Fig. 93. Author’s Final Designs of Alcyone ...... 70 Fig. 94. Author’s Photograph of Alcyone ...... 70 Fig. 95. Author’s Photograph of Alcyone as the Seabird ...... 71 Fig. 96. Author’s Final Design of Lucina ...... 71 Fig. 97. Author’s Photograph of Lucina ...... 72 Fig. 98. Author’s Final Design of Erysichthon ...... 71 Fig. 99. Author’s Photograph of Erysichthon ...... 72 Fig. 100. Author’s Final Design of Erysicthon’s Mother ...... 72 Fig. 101. Author’s Photograph of Erysichton’ Mother ...... 72 Fig. 102. Author’s Photograph of Little Girl ...... 73 Fig. 103. Author’s Final Design of Buyer ...... 72 Fig. 104. Author’s Photograph of Buyer ...... 73 Fig. 105. Author’s Final Design of Orpheus ...... 73 Fig. 106. Author’s Photograph of Orpheus ...... 74 Fig. 107. Author’s Final Design of Eurydice(Alive) ...... 73 Fig. 108. Author’s Photograph of Eurydice (Alive) ...... 74 Fig. 109. Author’s Final Design of Eurydice (Dead) ...... 74 Fig. 110. Author’s Photograph of Eurydice (Dead) ...... 75 Fig. 111. Author’s Final Design of Oread ...... 74 Fig. 112. Author’s Photograph of Oread ...... 75 Fig. 113. Author’s Final Design of Myrrha ...... 76 Fig. 114. Author’s Photograph of Myrrha ...... 76 Fig. 117. Author’s Photograph of Vertumnus as Old Woman ...... 76 Fig. 115. Author’s Final Design of Vertumnus ...... 75 Fig. 116. Author’s Photograph of Vertumnus ...... 76 Fig. 118. Author’s Final Design of Pomona ...... 76 vi

Fig. 119. Author’s Photograph of Pomona ...... 77 Fig. 120. Author’s Final Design of Cinyras ...... 76 Fig. 121. Author’s Photograph of Cinyras ...... 77 Fig. 122. Author’s Final Design of Nursemaid ...... 77 Fig. 123. Author’s Photograph of Nursemaid ...... 78 Fig. 124. Author’s Final Design of Psyche ...... 77 Fig. 125. Author’s Photograph of Psyche ...... 78 Fig. 126. Author’s Final Design of Therapist ...... 78 Fig. 127. Author’s Photograph of Therapist ...... 79 Fig. 128. Author’s Final Design of Phaeton ...... 78 Fig. 129. Author’s Photograph of Phaeton ...... 79 Fig. 130. Author’s Final Design of Baucis ...... 79 Fig. 131. Author’s Photograph of Baucis ...... 80 Fig. 132. Author’s Final Design of Philemon ...... 79 Fig. 133. Author’s Photograph of Philemon ...... 80 Fig. 134. Author’s Photograph of Woman ...... 80 Fig. 135. Author’s Photograph of Female Narrator ...... 80 Fig. 136. Author’s Photograph of Male Narrator ...... 81 Fig. 137. Author’s Photograph of Wedding Guest ...... 80 Fig. 138. Author’s Photograph of Wedding guest before the wedding ...... 81 Fig. 139. The Woman in the beginning of Creation. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 82 Fig. 140. The Scientist with the "Jar of Sand and Water". Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 83 Fig. 141. The Three Laundresses and Midas. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography...... 83 Fig. 142. Midas in his Swimsuit. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 84 Fig. 143. Alcyone and Ceyx. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 84 Fig. 144. Poseidon and Ceyx in the Shipwreck. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 85 Fig. 145. Iris waking Sleep up. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 86 Fig. 146. Morpheus summoning Dead Ceyx. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 87 Fig. 147. Dead Ceyx appearing to Alcyone in a dream. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 87 Fig. 148. Alcyone transformed into the Seabird. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 88 Fig. 149. Hunger filling Erysichthon with a bottomless hunger. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 88 Fig. 150. Erysicthon consuming himself. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 89 Fig. 151. Orpheus and Eurydice in their wedding ceremony. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 90 Fig. 152. Eurydice transforming into the dead. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 90 Fig. 153. Orpheus and the Denizens. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 91 Fig. 154. Orpheus, Hermes and Dead Eurydice on their parade out of the Underworld. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 91 Fig. 155. Echo replicating the Narcissus plant. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 92 Fig. 156. Vertumnus as the Old woman with Pomona. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 92 Fig. 157. Nursemaid comforting Myrrah. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 93 Fig. 158. Myrrah transforming into tears. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 93 Fig. 159. Phaeton demanding for Apollo's car keys with Therapist. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 94 Fig. 160. Psyche searching for Eros. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 94 Fig. 161. Psyche and Eros as Zeus gives her the immortality potion. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography ...... 95

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Uwadiae 1

INTRODUCTION

“…these myths are sort of impenetrable. There is something that always remains mysterious. You sense a symbolic and psychological content, but what that is, is shifty and unknown a little bit. They pull me in very deeply that way” (Brown).

This essay details my design process of creating costume and props design for Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses. This is a play without any indication of time and location except the fact that the gods and goddesses are Greek and Roman. I intended to create a timeless world of beauty where the gods and goddesses have deliberate and unquestionable manifestations among humans while highlighting the different planes of reality, social structure and hierarchy on which the characters exist. A word that reoccurred in conversation to describe the vision for the show as a whole is “heightened”. Through the many evolutions of the designs, this concept remained a guiding light and the ultimate destination. I was inspired by cultures from all over the world. My research was both pictorial and text-based. It involved looking at paintings and sculptures of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses and also reading about myths and writings about them. I found a strong starting point for my design process in an Orisha (deity) from the Yoruba Cosmology of the Nigerian people: Ori. “Ori” literally means “Head”. The natives of the Yoruba culture perceive “Ori as each individual’s own guardian and divinity” (Abimbola 34). Exploring this Yoruba deity both literally and spiritually in the context of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses within their myths became of visual significance to me.

I found Metamorphoses to be a play with endless possibilities that demanded imagination and creativity. The pool of water on stage presented a significant dimension on its own. The water intertwined with the notion of transformation caused by supernatural enchantment in the play provided an excitement and a challenge in the realization of the play.

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ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT

Francis Fergusson observes:

…one of the most striking properties of myths is that they generate new forms . . . in the imagination of those who try to grasp them. Until some imagination, that of a poet or only a reader or auditor, is thus fecunded by a myth, the myth would seem to exist only potentially” (qtd. in Garwood 70).

Mary Zimmerman, a playwright, who has spent her career working from myths and telling stories is a realization like Fergusson describes; for her it was myths in water that fecunded her imagination. Initially, she wanted to test out the Odyssey in water but the play as performed was without it. She then went ahead at Northwestern University and experimented with Six Myths in water. Six Myths eventually evolved into Metamorphoses. She believes that myths speak to the fundamental values of being human more than anything else and the mystery that is a constant in myths is intriguing to her (Brown). Metamorphoses, brings to life myths as a combination of performance, legend and psychology. Although Ovid’s poem of the same title dating from 8AD, as translated by David R. Slavitt is the main source and has a prevailing presence in the play, Zimmerman cites influences including Orpheus Eurydice Hermes a 1908 poem by Rainer Maria Rilke; The Metamorphoses of Apuleius (not included in Garwood); the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung; writings of Joseph Campbell and James Hillman, an archetypal psychologist. Zimmerman infuses these voices of the future into age-long myths and explores fascinating links between mythology, theatre and therapy (Garwood 70; Moyers). To understand the myths, Philip Matyszak in The Greek and Roman Myths emphasizes that the gods must not merely be seen as humans with extraordinary powers, but as forces of nature which the people of old believed had a human side to them (50). At the heart of Greek myths is an “ancient spiritual belief that love, ever changing, is the guiding force of the universe” This is why every transformation or “mythical enchantment” that happens in the play is as a result of love and passion (Garwood 70) or the desire for love and passion. For instance: Myrrha’s incestuous passion for her father and Phaeton’ desire for his father’s love and

Uwadiae 3 acceptance. Some of the passions are evoked within humans by their own vices, others are as a result of curses from and the whims of gods and goddesses. The type and object of said love and passion also makes the difference in each story. Some within the world of the gods and others within the human world complicated by the intrusion of the gods. For instance: Midas’ object of love is his money while Narcissus’ object of love is his reflection; Baucis and Philemon’s brotherly love for humanity and a powerful romantic love for each other. The water in the play is the channel or medium of transformation. About the pool of water onstage, Mary Zimmerman says:

… the water is so real. … it stands in for very literal things: They row in it and when the oars hit the water, that’s not something that’s a recorded sound or manufactured. It is actually happening. But then the water is also very metaphorical. So, it stands in for grief —when they are grief-stricken, they take handfuls of water and put it on their face and they look tear-stained. Or its very, very sensual. Or they dissolve into it. And then sometimes it’s just like a swimming pool, and then it’s very funny when it’s suddenly used literally (Brown).

Metamorphoses is a collection of ten myths with one interlude and a suggestion for “glimpses of various myths: PANDORA and her box, ATALANTA and the golden apple” (Zimmerman 40). It has through lines but not an overall plot. These through lines are Love, Passion and Transformation, with the water being the medium of transformation. In every myth in Metamorphoses, transformation is brought about as a result of expressions of the following: • love (a strong feeling of affection) • passion (a strong and often unhealthy desire) This means that in the play: love + action = transformation OR passion + action = transformation

Water, although very tangible and natural, symbolises a lot of intangible and supernatural ideas. In regard to Metamorphoses, water serves as the channel or vehicle of change, transformation and rebirth. In the case of Myrrha, as she steps into a stream and dissolves into it, she becomes one with the stream.

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Zimmerman begins the play with the strong image of a woman “kneeling by the side of the pool, looking at her own reflection” (Zimmerman 5). This woman begins to tell the story of creation and how the world came from chaos into order, either by our creator or by a “natural order of things” (7). She is joined by a Scientist and the god who sparked – Zeus. She introduces Man – Midas. Laundresses enter with a basket of laundry. As they do laundry, they talk about rich people and so begins the narration for Midas. I perceive the woman looking into the water is Gaia – the Earth; one of the first four entities in the universe who can give life by herself “for she brought forth from herself Uranus, who was the sky (Caelus to the Romans), and Pontus, the waters” (Matyszak 12). Mother Earth looking at her creation and provoking more life in the heavenly and earthly realm; puts Zeus in the centre of it all. The Scientist whom I perceive as more of a theologian because her lines are more spiritual and poetic than a declaration of scientific theory; comes in holding a jar of water and sand like a priest holding a thurible with burning incense. It is also interesting that the playwright chose a woman to be the Scientist. I believe it speaks to the ability to birth and nurture: a power that women naturally hold with regards to the birth of the world and its growth or transition from chaos to order. The Laundresses who are the first narrators in the play come in already on an omniscient plane in their neutrality to foster the storytelling in the narrative.

Midas King Midas whose net worth is “one hundred billion” gloats pridefully, obviously passionate about his wealth and the power that it affords him. He sees his daughter as perhaps a necessity or an entitlement and progressively shows it with his growing irritation as she interrupts his self-exultation. His servant brings in Silenus a drunken follower of Bacchus. Midas absentmindedly indulges him in his drunken babble until he mentions the possibility of gaining more wealth. When he realizes that Silenus the drunk was referring to the “inner life” (Zimmerman 15), he is bemused at the uselessness of a wealth that cannot be spent physically. Midas allows him to spend the night in the cabana. Bacchus, drunk himself, comes searching for his follower and filled with the joy of finding him alive, Bacchus offers Midas a blank cheque promising to grant him whatever wish he makes.

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MIDAS: Then grant me that anything I touch, everything I put my hands to, will turn to solid gold. [Long pause.] BACCHUS: That’s a really bad idea. (17)

Ignoring the warning and insisting on getting his wish, he receives the gift thinking that the whole world would be his treasure. After trying out his new gift on seashells, the branches of trees, flowers and even turning the ground he walks on into gold, he returns home. His daughter excited at her father’s return, runs into Midas’ arms and before he can stop her, she is turned into a gold statue. Midas desperately asks for his gift to be taken away. Bacchus, sober now, offers Midas a way to dissolve the gift.

BACCHUS: Walk as far as the ends of the earth. Look for a pool of water that reflects the stars at night. Wash your hands in it and there is a chance that everything would be restored (19).

The repercussions of his granted wish and the chance of the solution Bacchus proposes, forces Midas to embark on a journey of self-redemption with his daughter’s golden jump rope. In this story, Midas’ unhealthy passion for his wealth and greed leads him to ask for his gift and he suffers the consequence. Perhaps holding a golden statue of his daughter is what resets his priorities, rekindles his fatherly love for his daughter and causes him to ask for a reversal of his gift. The object of his passion changes from money to family. The pool of water which is previously his personal home pool, is made into his destination; a place he must get to, to be transformed and restored. While the pool is the destination, the process and journey to get there serves a purpose. This story is a perfect example of how sometimes what people think they need might will be what destroys them or leads them into a higher version of themselves.

Alcyone and Ceyx Also narrated by a Laundress, this story portrays King Ceyx and his wife Queen Alcyone who were so in love with each other that they lived in peace and harmony. Ceyx perhaps out of

Uwadiae 6 knowledge that his wife would try to dissuade him from his journey; or neglect; or out of a greater love for his sea travels; or ego of not wanting to be “stranded on shore, afraid, domesticated, diminished, a kind of lap dog” (Zimmerman 21); he does not tell Alcyone about his planned voyage to see a far-off Oracle. Learning from another source, she attempts and fails to convince him to stay or to take her with him for fear of her father’s winds and his imminent death. She sadly consents to his going knowing within her that that would be the last time they would see each other. Ceyx embarks on his voyage. Poseidon, the sea god and his henchmen destroy Ceyx's ship and the King and his sailors die. Alcyone moves her vigil to the shore and waits earnestly and hopefully for his return. Aphrodite, moved to pity by Alcyone’s love and needless waiting, sends Iris to ask Sleep to give her a dream showing her the sad truth. Alcyone has a dream of Ceyx, who tells her to go to the shore. When she does, she meets his corpse and by mercy from the gods in obeisance to the love they once shared, the two are united. They are given another chance to live and love for each other by being transformed into seabirds. This is the first time that the water is explicitly used for transformation in the play. Zimmerman narrates the transformation “ALCYONE moves slowly toward CEYX, transforming. The sound of waves and seabirds crying comes up” (31). As Alcyone moves through the water to meet with Ceyx’s corpse, the gods intervene rather timely and she is transfigured in the water into a water animal, a sea bird. Ceyx is giving life again and another chance to love and be loved. Their forms are changed into another state and even though there is death in the story, it has a happy ending. The water is seen in different lights in this story: the literal sea in which Ceyx sails; his emissary of death as Poseidon and his henchmen cause Ceyx’s ship to wreck; and the agent of transformation.

CEYX: He thinks in an oddly abstracted way that the waves are lions crazed with hunters’ wounds, or that the ship is a besieged town attacked by a horde of madmen. (24)

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Alcyone has her dream at the shore; she wakes up and she searches for her dreamed husband along the shore. This is also another interesting visual of earth and water and how the two elements work together in nature.

Erysichthon This story tells of Erysichthon, a prideful rationalist and atheist who does not believe in the existence or power of the gods and goddesses therefore, he disregards them. He fails to realize that not believing in the gods is like not believing in gravity (Matyszak 50). He chops down one of Ceres' sacred trees and when he is told that he is in a grove belonging to Ceres, he declares that if it was the goddess herself, he would cut it down just the same (Zimmerman 33). His actions imply that he thinks himself untouchable and immune to the gods simply because he did not believe in them. The spirit of the tree foretells his imminent downfall for his blatant disrespect of Ceres but he is unmoved and unafraid. For vengeance, Ceres, goddess of agriculture and fertility, sends Oread to summon Hunger.

CERES: There is a place in far-off Scythia. Nothing grows there, no wheat, no grass no trees. There you will find, huddling together, Cold, Fear and gaunt Hunger. Tell Hunger I command her to visit this brute and establish a home for herself in his belly. I give him to her as a toy (34).

Hunger gladly obeys. After endless eating and spending all his fortune on food, the only thing left to sell is his Mother. Erysichthon sells her to a merchant. During their journey, Erysichthon’s Mother prays to Poseidon whom she used to worship as a child. He hears her prayer and transforms her back into the little girl who used to give him praise. With nothing else to sell or to eat and an unquenchable hunger, Ceres personally provides the fork, knife and tray with which Erysichthon ultimately consumes himself. Erysichthon dies a death befitting for a man so passionate in his faithlessness that he does not respect the gods as the source of life and prosperity. He does not believe in the gods and chooses to anger the goddess of food. She is not enough for him so she makes sure nothing she provides will ever be enough. Ceres curses him with an unhealthy passion or lust for food and an

Uwadiae 8 unquenchable Hunger. The water in this scene symbolizes the food stores he empties trying to satisfy his hunger as Zimmerman creates an interesting image here of Erysichthon trying to consume the water. When in desperation he sells his mother, Poseidon the God of the sea makes use of the water to bring forth the transformation of Erysichthon’s mother into the Little Girl who plays at the shore; he saves her. Ceres cursing Erysichthon with an morbid passion for food and avid hunger is similar to Aphrodite cursing Myrrha with an abominable desire for her father. Both stories begin with the humans disregarding the goddesses and ends with the humans paying with their lives.

Orpheus and Eurydice This is a story of Orpheus, the greatest musician of all time, and Eurydice the love of his life. They had just been married when Eurydice is bit by a snake and dies. Distressed, heart broken and unable to live with the pain of his loss; Orpheus travels to the Underworld to persuade Hades, the god of the Underworld and Persephone, his Queen, to release Eurydice. Orpheus sings a heartfelt song and reminds Hades of the power of love that made him kidnap Persephone; a love that united them. Hades and Persephone are moved and they agree to let Eurydice return with Orpheus.

HADES: …Your song has moved us Orpheus, and you may have her on one condition. As you ascend and leave this place, she will not walk beside you; but she will be following. You must not, until you pass our gates, turn around to look at her. If you look at her before you reach the sunlight, she is ours. Forever. (42)

Orpheus agrees to Hades’ terms but when he is almost at the gates of the Underworld, for fear that it was a cruel trick of the gods and because he is unable hear Eurydice behind him, he looks back which causes Hermes to return her to Hades. This action is repeated severally, replaying the memory that Orpheus will forever have of losing his bride. Through the 1908 poem Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes by Rainer Maria Rilke the rest of the story is told. After the continuous repetition of this memory, Eurydice becomes frail, and no longer remembers Orpheus. She returns to the Underworld ignorant of Orpheus, the man she loved a long time ago.

Uwadiae 9

Eurydice, Orpheus’ bride, transitions from life to death. She is transformed from a bride living and in love; into a dead shadow without a memory of her lover. Love drove Orpheus out of the world of the living into the world of the dead. The fear of losing his lover cost him his lover. This almost successful journey, shows the human nature of Orpheus who with a little more faith in the gods and patience would have welcomed his wife back into the world of the living. This story is similar to that of Psyche. She did not trust her feelings of love enough and Orpheus did not trust or have faith in the gods. If he had let go of his inhibitions like Psyche eventually did, he would have seen Eurydice again. He is faithless but in a different way than Erysichthon because he believed in the gods, but against them, he never stood a chance.

Interlude – Narcissus A short scene showing Narcissus catching a glimpse of his own reflection in the pool. Enchanted and in love with what he sees, he freezes and is replaced with a Narcissus plant. This I believe is different from a healthy love of self: he became fixated with his reflection. This has a parallel with the Midas’ story, but while Midas’ passion was for his wealth, Narcissus’ passion was for his reflection; while Midas’ daughter turned into a golden statue, Narcissus himself froze in place and a Narcissus plant grew from where he was.

Pomona and Vertumnus Pomona, a female wood nymph, who is in love with the fields and orchards catches the eye of the god of springtime, Vertumnus. He is madly in love with her. Pomona has turned down advances from many suitors and remains alone. Vertumnus disguises himself in attempts to win Pomona. After getting her attention in the pretence of an old woman, he tells her the story of Myrrha. The story gets Vertumnus nowhere. Pomona sees through his disguise and asks him to take it all off. Seeing him for who he truly is, she falls in love with him. Pomona and Vertumnus are both lower gods. While Vertumnus brings about springtime, Pomona tends to the fields and orchards. Vertumnus sees himself and Pomona as a tree and a vine that complete each other. He loves her and desires a reciprocation of his love. He transforms himself into different people to woo her. In the guise of an Old woman, he tells the story of Myrrah, hoping to get her to see the dangers of ignoring Aphrodite’s call to love. For the first time since he started wooing her, she is standing close to him and she sees through his disguise.

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This story has a happy ending. Even though it does not directly make use of the water, the story in the story happens predominantly in the water.

Myrrha Vertumnus tells Pomona the story of King Cinyras and his daughter Myrrha. After denying Aphrodite's attempts to fall in love and turning down all her suitors, Myrrha is cursed by Aphrodite with abominable passion for her father. Myrrha tries to control these emotions which are new to her, but because she is being manipulated by a curse from the goddess of love, she eventually yields. With the help of her Nursemaid, Myrrha has three sexual encounters with her father, each time keeping him drunk and blindfolded so that he would not recognise her. After their third incestuous encounter, Cinyras takes off his blindfold. On discovering that he had been committing incest with his daughter, he tries to strangle Myrrha but she escapes. Out of shame she prays to the gods:

MYRRHA: O Gods, I pray you, change me; make me something else; transform me entirely; Let me step out of my own heart. (60)

She did change.

NARRATOR: Others contend that she dissolved into tears.

APHRODITE: And this last was not a mere expression, some rhetoric turn or poetic and hyperbolic trope, but simply the unadorned, terrible truth. She stepped into a shimmering stream and began to dissolve: Her body melted. (61)

The story of Myrrha and Cinyras happens mostly in the water. Myrrha’s aloofness towards Aphrodite’s call to love provokes the goddess. Aphrodite fills her with a vile desire: a

Uwadiae 11 lust for her father. This passion leads her to trick her father into incest. The water in this story is multi-dimensional. Zimmerman describes their union “CINYRAS wades slowly towards MYRRHA. He touches her, lifts her. They lie down, kiss and are submerged into the water. MYRRHA pulls away and leaves him” (59). The water embodies the bed of lust and forbidden passion in which they submerged. When Cinyras removes his blindfold and sees his daughter, “with a cry, he lunges towards her and tries to drown her. Finally, she escapes. He runs off” (60). The water becomes a murder weapon as Cinyras tries to drown his daughter. After she escapes, she prays for a transfiguration and the gods answer her prayer. The pool of water becomes the stream in which Myrrha dissolves. Her action, which is a manifestation of her ungodly passion, leads to her transformation. She steps into the water and becomes it. The water itself assumes a number of meanings while being the transformative force.

Phaeton Phaeton narrates his relationship or lack thereof with Apollo (god of the sun), his father, to his Therapist. Lounging in the pool, Phaeton talks about how after being bullied at school, he goes on a journey to meet his father, who drives the Sun across the sky every day. Happy to see his son, Apollo decides to grant Phaeton a favour. Phaeton asks for the keys to his car, the Sun. The Therapist provides her psychoanalytical opinions about how premature initiation of a child where the parents are neither prepared nor willing to raise the child together and the lack of a father figure in the life of the child creates an irredeemable loss. This causes the child to never really grow past childish complexes and resentment. Apollo gives in to Phaeton driving the Sun across the sky as compensation for his absence as father. Phaeton, drives the sun too close to the earth and causes a great fire. This story speaks of Phaeton’s desire to be loved and accepted by his father. This is similar to Vertumnus’ desire for his love for Pomona to be reciprocated. While Vertumnus’ desire makes him hide himself in disguises, Phaeton’s desire leads him into an untimely exposure of himself on a quest to force his father into acknowledging him. Phaeton’s obsessive desire for love and acknowledgement from his father, pushes him into his demise. Phaeton floats on his raft in the pool as he tells his story to the therapist. Zimmerman’s leaves the interpretation of this destruction to the imagination. Although the Sun implies fire, this destruction or transformation is narrated in water.

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Eros and Psyche Q and A narrate the scene with Q asking questions about Eros and Psyche and A answering the questions. Psyche and Eros remain silent during the scene, but enact the narration. Psyche is married to Eros but she has never seen him. She suspects that he is a monster and goes to see him when he is asleep; she carries a candle with her. Awakened by a wax burn, Eros is hurt that she had to see him to believe instead of trusting her feelings. He goes away to heal his wound. Aphrodite, who disdains Psyche for her beauty, does what Eros could not do and punishes her. After much torture from Aphrodite, Zeus intervenes and makes Psyche immortal and she lives with Eros forever. Q and A conclude that people might wander in the darkness of loneliness until they choose to blind themselves and give in to a deeper love. Zimmerman describes Eros’ appearance “The doors open and Eros enters. He is winged, naked, blindfolded, and carrying a golden arrow” (68). The Q and A, the narrators in the scene reveal why he is blindfolded and naked.

Q: Who is this?

A: This is Eros, god of love.

Q: Why does he have wings?

A: So he can move quickly from body to body.

Q: Why is he naked?

A: To make us Transparent.

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Q: To make us what?

A: Transparent in our love. Foolish to others. Exposed.

Q: Why is he blind?

A: He is blind to show how he takes away our ordinary vision, that depends on the appearance of things. (68-69)

Psyche, although in love with Eros, doubts what she feels and desires to see him and be sure for herself. This causes her to search for Eros and look at him, even though he forbids it. Her unbelief hurts him. I believe she is transformed from an unsure young woman, so afraid of the power of her love that she goes out in search of proof; into an immortal goddess who is reaffirmed in her love for Eros and blessed to spend all eternity with him. Eros’ love and forgiveness makes it all worth it and the two are united.

Baucis and Philemon This final story tells of Zeus and Hermes disguising themselves as beggars on earth to see what people really were like. After being rejected by every house in the city and having doors slammed in their faces, they are accepted into the home of Baucis and Philemon and welcomed them as children of God. The poor couple feed a great feast to the gods, unaware of their true identity. During the feast, the gods reveal themselves in their glory and transforms their little cottage into “a glittering marble-columned temple” (82). The gods ask them to make a wish. Baucis and Philemon ask to die at the same moment so that they would not have to live without each other or witness each other’s death. Their wish is granted and arriving at old age together, the couple metamorphosed into trees with branches intertwined.

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This story speaks about brotherly love and kindness and how for all the hate in the world; there is - although rare - love within humanity and therefore, hope in humanity. Baucis and Philemon’s expression of brotherly love made then welcome the beggars into their home; and their expression of romantic love caused them to make their wish. These actions which are as a result of love bring about their transformation. The poor couple recognised the beggars as “children of God”. This shows that regardless of the status of people, they saw God in everyone. They recognised the divine within humanity. Their love for each other defies death because they never die, they transfigure into trees intertwined with one another. Although the text does not state that the transformation takes place in the water, the very presence of the water suggests it.

At the end of the play, Midas returns. He finds the pool, washes himself in it and is restored. He finally arrives at his destination and he is not the same Midas that he was in the beginning. His daughter enters no longer a frozen piece of gold, they embrace and the play ends. Even though he visually is found in the pool in the beginning and end, He is not in the same place. The object of his love has changed from money to family. His journey and destination all played a part in his transformation. It seems befitting that the end of his journey ends the play.

This play is about manifestations of Love and Passion; and how they lead to Transformation. These themes reoccur in every myth told in the play. The language in the play is contemporary English. Zimmerman also infuses contemporary poetry and psychology into these age long myths. The crossbreed of contemporary English language with ancient Greek and Roman myths creates a fusion of the past the present and the future. The ancient stories mixed with contemporary language, art and science creates a timeless masterpiece. Timelessness I interpret as multiplicity in all things: style, period, colour, era, texture and culture. This is why I decided to pull from everywhere for my designs.

Of all the myths in Ovids’ Metamorphoses that Zimmerman could have used, she chose the ones that used love and passion as means of transformation with water as the only vehicle of change. The challenge was to create a world that would demonstrate the splendour of the gods and goddesses and the inherent flaws of humans. The costumes needed to reflect the status of the characters and allow for the water as a transformative physical force.

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DESIGN CONCEPTION

On reading the play the first few times, I resolved that the play was out of our world, not held by contemporary time. I was drawn further into the play by the fact it is not just drama: it has music, poetry, choreographed sequences and it has a lot of room for interpretation and imagination. The extraordinariness of the play in its unconventional stage requirement of a pool of water; the overwhelming themes of passion and love – its expression, repercussions and resulting transformation were interesting threads throughout the plot. During my research about the playwright - Mary Zimmerman, and Greek and Roman mythology, I came across a picture of a model with an extravagant headpiece and that lit a spark in my mind.

Fig. 1. Ponce, Sigrid. Fashion Photography. 2013. Behance.net.

In my preliminary analysis, I visualized exploring sheer fabrics and fabrics that float on water in my design. Since a lot of the actions would take place in the pool I felt this insinuated that most of the costumes may need to be built and it would inevitably become expensive but I

Uwadiae 16 was willing to hope and dream. Required research in practical terms of what fabrics would best suit my vision and serve the action taking place in water was evident at this time.

My first meeting with the director, Haysam Kadri, took place on May 19, 2017. From the beginning, Kadri made it clear that he wanted to support my vision for the play under his direction. We agreed that the play has intense storytelling, language and feeling. Kadri was fascinated by the sexiness, sensuality and the delicacy in the world of the play; the purity and innocence that the water brings in its big and sweeping way. We talked about love and passion as is told in the myths and how it caused people to act outside of their natural tendencies; how it made them vulnerable. I thought about the very weakness of our human nature which also makes us inherently susceptible to the supernatural beings. To show this in costumes, the possibility of playing with (partial) nudity arose. The element of narration and character interaction with the audience was very important to Kadri. Neither of us saw the play in any specific time period and we acknowledged that the play had to be big, epic, heightened and something to which people - humanity - could connect. The word heightened kept coming up in meetings. We used it to describe or qualify our vision for the production of Metamorphoses. Heightened, in the world of this play, is the concept of elevating and improving ordinary things until they step up from their normal nature into an extraordinary version. Kadri and I believed the storytelling, staging requirement of a pool of water, characterizations and the presence of the supernatural beings among humanity proposed a superior reality in the play as a whole. This concept became a propellant and a guiding light for me in my design process for the costume and props. Taking ordinary things (like a jar of water and sand) out of their natural characteristics and elevating them into the extraordinary was my goal for the show in both costumes and props. We discussed the heightened spectrum and where inherently ordinary things and people fell in the spectrum. This refers to the degree of heightened-ness each character in their costumes and props had to be. How poor was poor? How rich was rich? How pedestrian was pedestrian? We resolved that the planes as well as the behavioural qualities of the characters would determine this. For instance: every prop handled by the gods and goddesses had to be extraordinary and those handled by humans would be ordinary. It meant that gods and goddesses would be more heightened in their costumes with their heads glorified using a headpiece; while the humans depending on their social class, would be dressed

Uwadiae 17 accordingly although without a headpiece. The headpiece was to be the symbol of divinity in the play, so only the gods and goddesses would wear them. Kadri was very excited about the pool and all the possibilities it held – being able to appear and disappear from under the water, possibilities of drowning and hiding. After our discussion, I showed him some images. These were images of exaggerated headpieces that I had found and wanted to play with for the design of the show. I also talked about my desire to play with fabrics that would float on the water. He approved and was excited about the headpieces. He encouraged me to continue in the direction I was going.

Fig. 2. Author’s Collage of Headpieces.

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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

HEADDRESSES

After that first meeting with Kadri, I continued my research. First, I began to search within myself to find out why I was instantly drawn to exaggerated headpieces for the show. I found my answers in my background in Nigeria, living with the Yoruba people. In Nigeria, there are three major ethnic groups and over 200 minor ones. One of the three major groups is the Yoruba ethnic group. In the Yoruba Cosmology, there are many Oriṣa (pronounced Oh-ree-sha) gods and goddesses with the capability of reflecting some manifestations of Olódùmarè – the Supreme God. Ori, literally meaning “head”, is believed to be the most important Oriṣa of all.

Each individual’s Ori is his personal divinity who regulates his life … Whatever has not been sanctioned by one’s Ori cannot be done by other divinities. … The Yoruba conceive of Ori as each individual’s own guardian and divinity. The other Orisa are for the public at large. Although they cater for the interests of individuals, they cannot do this as effectively as Ori whose duty it is to protect the individual and lead him to his chosen destiny (Abimbola 34).

Ori is born with and dies with a person only serving that individual. It is said to be the spark of divinity, the slice of the supreme being within every human being. If you are faithful, your Ori would guide to a beautiful destiny. I was drawn to the literal meaning and the spiritual connotation of the word - Ori. I also was interested in exploring this Yoruba deity of the “head” within Greek and Roman cosmology. Knowing that this role would be played by ordinary humans – men and women. I decided to give the glorification of the head and the realization of this divinity within humans to only the actors playing gods and goddesses in the play. It would serve as an initiation from humanity into their supernatural plane and existence. It would also become the through line within the higher plane to emphasize their outer worldliness.

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Fig. 3. Ile Ori (Shrine of the Head). 19th - 20th Century. Metmuseum.org

PLANES

Planes and levels of the characters in the world of the play were articulated scenically by Travis Hatt’s set design, but had to be shown through the costumes as well. I divided the characters in the world of the play into different planes: The Heavenly plane and the Earthly plane.

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WORLD OF METAMORPHOSES OFMETAMORPHOSE

HEAVENLY PLANE LAUNDRESSES & NARRATORS GODS & GODDESSES EARTHLY PLANE NYMPHS S

HIGH CLASS MIDDLE CLASS LOWER CLASS

Fig. 4. Author’s Diagram of the different Planes in the world of Metamorphoses.

The Heavenly plane is divided into two levels: the higher Gods and Goddesses like Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon and Ceres; the nymphs or lower gods and goddesses like Vertumnus, Hunger and Sleep. The Earthly plane, like any society, is divided into three classes: high class like Midas and Erysichthon; middle class like Phaeton, Therapist; and lower class Like Silenus, Baucis and Philemon. The Laundresses and the Narrators exist on a plane distinct from that of the gods and humans as a kind of omnipresence not greater than the gods or less than humans. They just are neutral in their existence. These levels served as a way to clarify my thoughts and intentions for the scenes and characters in the play.

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MIDAS’ MIDAS’

BAUCIS

SILENUS

SAILORS

SERVANT

PHILEMON

PLANE

EARTHLY EARTHLY

THERAPIST PHAETON MIDAS’ SERVANT NURSEMAID WEDDING GUESTS

CEYX

MIDAS

MIDAS’ MIDAS’

PSYCHE

MOTHER

CINYRAS MYRRHA

ORPHEUS

ALCYONE

EURYDICE

DAUGHTER

& &

ERYSICHTHON

ERYSICHTHON’S ERYSICHTHON’S

NARRATORS

LAUNDRESSES

OFMETAMORPHOSE

WORLD OF METAMORPHOSES METAMORPHOSES OF WORLD

IRIS

SLEEP

OREAD

HUNGER

POMONA

DENIZENS

HENCHMEN

VERTUMNUS

PLANE

HEAVENLY HEAVENLY

ZEUS APHRODITE CERES HERMES BACCHUS HADES PERSEPHONE POSEIDON APOLLO EROS

Fig. 5. Author’s Diagram of The Characters within their Planes in the World of Metamorphoses

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PRELIMINARY DESIGNS

Slavitt’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, creates a constant image of dynamism of water. This embodies the essential truth about the universe: it is ever changing. Water already ever changing, effects transformation in the Greek and Roman myths. Of all the myths Zimmerman could have chosen, she chose those that involved transformation and water. The transformations within themselves are heightened events. Therefore, costumes would embody the qualities of water. I started to think about the pool of water, the importance of its role in the play and the qualities of water itself: movement and fluidity, transparency, formlessness, and how it reflects lights. I wanted fabrics that would float on water. I found a book by Philip Matyszak called The Greek and Roman Myths: A Guide to the Classical Stories in the library. It had a wealth of information about mythical stories and the characters within the stories in a way that was straightforward. This book became one of my primary sources of information about Greek and Roman Mythology. In conversation with the director, I asked some questions about some characters in the play and how he wanted to represent them for instance the tree/the voice of the tree: I wanted to know if the tree was a person and if the person would be seen. Kadri intended to represent that with sound and projection. For the Underworld, I needed to know if he was going along with the script in which Zimmerman suggests that “We see PERSEPHONE and HADES; THE FATES, snipping their threads; A SISYPHEAN CHARACTER; and various other DENIZENS of the Underworld” (41) or if he had other ideas. The only thing he knew for sure at the time, was that he wanted a large number of people on stage for that scene. Kadri and I talked more about exposing skin as vulnerability of love and the sensuality of romance being a thread between Eros and Aphrodite – the god and goddess of love and romance. Kadri informed me that he was looking at 15 – 18 people as cast size and he felt like it was a show with more women than men in the cast. I showed him reference pictures of costumes with fabrics that I felt had a flow and reflected the fluidity of the water, Kadri loved them. We talked about a base costume for all the actors and having pieces (like masks for the Denizens) added as they became characters. However, the main characters in every story should have their own full costumes. We then exchanged thoughts on Midas’ daughter’s golden effect and how we could

Uwadiae 23 reflect that on stage. Although we had many thoughts there was no satisfactory solution at the time. We had the same mental picture for Hunger: Gollum in Lord of the rings. I wanted the gods and goddesses to look glorious. I was inspired by clothing from different periods and cultures for the costume designs while keeping in mind the unity of the whole picture. I felt that the characters needed to be barefoot(ed) to connect more with the agelessness of the stories and the element of the earth.

With the preliminary design due date around the corner, the creative team: Kadri, Hatt and I had a meeting to discuss our processes. We met on the 13th of June. We discussed where the things that are inherently ordinary fall in the heightened spectrum. This refers to the degree of heightened-ness each character in their costumes and props had to be. How poor was poor? How rich was rich? How pedestrian was pedestrian? I thought more about this and realized that their planes as well as their behavioural qualities would determine this. For instance: I decided that every item handled by the gods and goddesses had to be elevated and those handled by humans would be ordinary. The gods in their splendour would look majestic but when they come to earth as Beggars, they would look worse than the average human street beggars giving a heightened quality to their poverty.

The ancient nature of the myths gives them a new meaning of agelessness for me. The stories live on. The gods and goddesses live among us in the 21st century with: brands like Nike and Eos named after goddesses; words like cereal (derived from the goddess Ceres (Matyszak 74), aphrodisiac (derived from the goddess Aphrodite (Matyszak 55); and phenomena in science and art named after gods, goddesses and mythical parallels. These stories combined with contemporary language, art and science creates a timeless masterpiece. Timelessness means all time which I interpret as multiplicity in all things: style, period, colour, era, texture and culture. This is why I decided to pull from everywhere for my designs. Instead of time periods, I chose costume and props designs based on already existing paintings and sculptures as well as my sense of the characters and the stories based on my research, and the beauty of them. For instance: Midas who did not think twice about asking for a golden touch, would have golden skin if he could. So, he would have on a golden robe.

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Instead of traditional wings, I wanted to give Eros a cape attached to his arms so that when he wraps his arms around Psyche, it would envelope her. It serves as a metaphor for how love consumes the mind when it trusts and releases its inhibitions. I then chose red for Psyche and white for Eros. I visualized a mystical two-headed snake crawling on the water to bite Eurydice. I also wanted to play with the colour for Phaetons scene – golden Apollo, orange phaeton and reddish therapist – a gathering of warm colours. I saw the Therapist as more like a life guru and the Scientist as a Theologian and not an ordinary Scientist with a lab coat. I knew that I wanted the jar of water and sand to be more extraordinary – with lights and glitter. Erysichthon seemed to be the only atheist and rational person in the whole script so I wanted him in formal attire.

Fig. 6. Author’s Collage of Costume Inspirations

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My colour palette was white and gold for the gods and goddesses, bright colours for royals and earth tones for the lower-class humans. I saw extravagant headpieces, including masks and extraordinary props for the gods or goddess to handle. For the ladies – goddesses and royals; I designed full length modern dresses that had sweep for them with beautiful fabrics of (beaded) lace, chiffon, etc. the Laundresses who at the time I thought would be the only narrators in the play were dressed in beautiful dresses with veil on their heads to give them a “dreamy air” (Zimmerman 7). I found a beautiful scroll music stand that I thought would be perfect if it was golden. I envisioned Ceres’ fork, knife and tray to be Antique French Sterling Serving Pieces. I saw Zeus and Aphrodite with smoking pipes instead of ordinary cigarettes.

Fig. 7. Author’s Collage of Props Inspirations

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Eager to put my designs on paper, I began my preliminary costume sketches. I showed Kadri pictures for the colours that I was looking at for the costumes. He approved the colours and offered some notes and suggestions concerning some characters costumes. He wanted grey/white wigs for Zeus, Apollo and Hades to age them and using the style of toga as seen in sculptures for them, we looked at some pictures of Michael Jackson in costumes and his video for “Remember the Time” for Orpheus – “the greatest musician of all time” (Zimmerman 41). He wanted to play with staffs of authority for the gods. He sent me some pictures of what he was thinking for Poseidon and informed me that the actor was going to be very active on stage. We talked about using the symbols on the crowns and staffs of the gods. By June 19th I turned in the Preliminary designs and documents. The design presentations happened the next day. Present were Andrew North (Production Manager), Scott Freeman (Stage Carpenter), Halina Supernat (Wardrobe Assistant), Lisa Roberts (Wardrobe Manager), Julia Wasilewski (Props Master), April Viczko (Supervisor and Producer), Haysam Kadri (Director), Travis Hatt (Set, Projection and Lighting Designer). Kadri talked about the concept and scope of the show and opened the floor to the designers. Nervous, I talked briefly about the costume and props design and answered questions. The next day, I met with Roberts and Supernat in the costume shop and we went through the designs of the costumes and I explained what I had in mind in terms of fabric and texture. I also had a meeting with Wasilewski to answer any questions and supply more information. The costing process ensued. The designs were significantly over budget. This meant a re- think and further clarification of concept was required. Onward!

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FINAL DESIGNS

Willing to dream first and worry about budget later, I knew that the time had come for me to bring my dream down to scale and within budget. The costumes were the main challenge so ultimately, I had to redesign a large part of the costumes. My goal here was to strip my designs down to the very essence of what I wanted – to simplify. First, I started striking things that I found to be unnecessary or too expensive. Things like the wigs and beards, the bald cap and the sunken eye makeup for Hunger and the veils for the laundresses. Next, to simplify the exaggerated headpieces, the dresses that cost too much build time and could be bought, and the shroud for Dead Eurydice. The third step was sourcing for the costumes. This involved going back through stock and pulling more, searching online stores in Canada/US, going to clothing and fabric stores in malls and looking for costume pieces and fabrics. I saved URL links, took pictures of things I found with notes on prices, stores and locations. Some weeks after the preliminary designs were costed; the production team went on their summer holiday. I had to wait till they returned to further discuss solutions with them. This allowed me more time with my thoughts, to clarify my intentions for each character and prop in the scenes.

The principles of the final design remained the same as the preliminary designs. The spectrum of heightened qualities remained the same: the props handled by the gods being elevated and the ones used humans remain ordinary; the use of headpieces to symbolize divinity in the glorification of the head, thus imparting the heavenly into the human actors.

The human nature of the gods themselves within the play became more and more vital. The gods and goddesses would still look majestic but they would not all be in white and gold: Ceres, goddess of agriculture and fertility became a green dress with a train and flowers on headpieces to show vegetation and growth; Sleep changed to blue the most soothing colour; Hunger transitioned to the colour of the barren desert, brown; Bacchus, the drunken god, the colour of red wine; Hades, god of the underworld, dressed in black. I replaced Zeus and Hades’ togas with chiton-like robes.

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Fig. 8. Author’s Preliminary Design of Zeus Fig. 9. Author’s Final Design of Zeus

Fig. 10. Author’s Preliminary Design of Hades Fig. 11. Author’s Final Design of Hades

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With the modern dresses I designed, I realized that full length dresses as beautiful as they may be would weigh too much when put in water and might not achieve what I desired: to have them float or seem fluid on water. So, I allowed dresses of varying lengths instead. I also slowed down on my initial want for beautiful beaded lace fabrics (when I found during research that they would float for a short time and then sink). So, I replaced most of them with polyester chiffon.

Fig. 12. Author’s Preliminary Design of Aphrodite Fig. 13. Author’s Final Design of Aphrodite

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Fig. 14. Author’s Preliminary Design of Ceres Fig. 15. Author’s Final Design of Ceres

For Midas, I visualized a man who wasted no time in showing off his wealth so he would be in a robe - golden or/and purple. He also probably over worked and under paid his staff who had to look presentable so his Servant would be in browns/tans. His daughter who is barely a teenager I saw in pink expressing her girlish innocence.

In Alcyone and Ceyx’s scene, we first see the first transformation and the water being used literally and symbolically. Therefore, I envisioned scene in different shades of blue to symbolize and capture the different moods of the sea. Since Alycone first transforms into a sea bird, I saw wings of some sort in her costume.

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Fig. 15. Author’s Final Design of Alcyone

Erysichthon, the nonbeliever, who is more formal and logical than spiritual with his thinking had to be dressed in a two-piece suit with a vest. His mother, a believer, who is also rich I saw in a purple dress with a shawl and a purse which she loses in her transformation into the Little girl. Hunger, the punisher, I saw in wretched burlap sack cloth and a mask that covers her mouth. Kadri suggested I think of the Buyer in terms of a merchant from Venice. The scene is about a nonbeliever so I wanted to create the illusion of colourlessness in his world because if his lack of faith. I envisioned the overall look of this scene to be sepia and dull and showed this through their costumes being in browns and tans. I retained the colour palette that I had in mind in the preliminary design for Phaeton’s scene: Apollo – the sun being golden and Phaeton in orange. The Therapist understands the gap that fatherlessness left in Phaeton. So, for me, she implied a strong image and connection between what he had and what he desired. I saw her in red which connects the gold and orange through warm tones and suggests a blood connection. I found it interesting that the playwright wrote a woman and not a man as the Therapist because the I believe that a young man looking for a father figure would subconsciously look to a man be it a therapist or a teacher and not a woman. But then again, the idea of rebirth flows through the play - because every transformation

Uwadiae 32 is a rebirth - and only women have the power to give birth. Perhaps the Therapist is fulfilling also the role of Phaeton’s mother.

Fig. 16. Author’s Final Design of Apollo Fig. 17. Author’s Final Design of Therapist Fig. 18. Author’s Final Design of Phaeton

I had a meeting with Kadri and brought him up to speed on the steps I was taking to cut down cost for the show. I went through the list of props with him and we decided on the ones that were cut. Kadri wanted to use a dollar store snake and I wanted a bigger and more fantastic looking snake. He agreed to go with the bigger one for the time being. I suggested that during transformations costume pieces could aid in the visual story by transforming as well. For instance, Erysichthon’s mother who transforms into the Little Girl: both characters should be played by one actor with the actor transforming before our eyes.

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I was over joyed when I received an email from Andrew North, the production manager, informing us that the Division of Drama found additional funding for the show. That message came with the costing of the final designs. We were still over budget. I had a phone meeting with Kadri and Hatt. Kadri suggested that I take a second look at Ceyx’s costume; he suggested Capri pants and a neck scarf. That made sense to me since he was a sea faring man about to leave on a voyage. I had designed his costume based on his romantic side but Kadri explained it would not work for the movement he had in mind.

Fig. 19. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx #1 Fig. 20. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx #2

I had another meeting with Wasilewski to see what else could be done to bring the cost of props down. I agreed to use some of the props from stock for instance - Poseidon’s staff. The head of the staff and the centrepiece of his crown were the same – the trident. I altered the crown design to match the trident staff in stock. We talked about the music stand, I agreed to design one that would be made with wood instead of purchasing an expensive one. Running props like the chips that Silenus eats, cotton candy and notepad for the Therapist were cut. We knew that when rehearsals began, things would be added and more things would be cut.

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With the fact that we did not know who the cast were, there was not much we could do to confirm costing on some costumes. I pointed out some errors in the costume costing. Some dresses from the URLs that I sent in were accidentally overpriced and some numbers that were not erased from the preliminary costing were transferred to the finals. After those were rectified, the new lists were costed and finally we were within budget. Onward again!

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DESIGN EXECUTION AND EVOLUTION

The props build was scheduled to begin Aug 28th and wardrobe build was scheduled to begin on Sept 13th. I began checking in with Wasilewski to answer questions and provide drawings as needed and also to make choices on materials. The auditions were set for Sept 11th and some key roles were assigned. Sept 18th was the date of the first rehearsal; the designers would present their designs; the actors would read the script and the rest of the roles would be assigned. I fixed a check-in time with Roberts and Supernat in wardrobe and Wasilewski in the props. I informed the ladies about the approval of the base costumes of brown trousers and beige top. I also informed them of change in Ceyx’s costume which was approved. I was running late on turning in some updated props drafting. The beginning of the actual build process was overwhelming with the pressure I put on myself not letting up. Before the show was cast, Roberts and Supernat were concerned about the size of the show and all the costume pieces that needed to be built. To get a head start on the headpieces, we shopped for those materials first. We had discussions about how to realize the designs of the headpieces and Wasilewski was included in making the headpieces. We agreed that props would handle headpieces that were not made of fabric while wardrobe would handle the headpieces made from fabric. Since there was a lot of gold in the designs, I wanted all the gold colours or at least those worn by a single character to be the same tone. This proved tricky when using a variety of materials but we found solutions. Roberts and Supernat brought some swatches of fabrics for Poseidon’s trousers, Sleep’s onesie and Apollo’s golden skirt - there was a sale at the fabric store and I had to make a decision fast. I made choices and the fabrics were bought. After what seemed like a long time, the show was cast. To my surprise and relief, a good number of the pulled costumes fit the actors well. As the actors tried on costumes, I discussed with Roberts and Supernat about the alterations that needed to be made on some of them. I expected all the cast members to be white skinned but amazingly, there was an African actor. I knew right away that I had to change the colours for her characters with something that would suit her dark skin. I took pictures of fittings and made sure to give Kadri updates every step of the way.

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Fig. 21. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Hades in fitting Fig. 22. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Midas in fitting

Fig. 23. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Oread in fitting Fig. 24. Author’s Photograph of actor playing Nursemaid in fitting

My design presentation to the cast went well. I talked about the concept for the costumes and props with them, and I described the inspirations I had for fabrics and the headpieces. The

Uwadiae 37 actors were excited to be a part of the production and to be working with this director. I answered questions and gave instructions to the actors not to cut their hair until we had discussed the exact style. During the following weeks, lists of actors and their roles were released as updates were made and an actor was added to the cast.

Fig. 25. First part of the Final Costume List

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Wasilewski started to build the Jar of sand and water which we called The Glowing Orb because it had become more than a jar. It was designed to be one foot long; with LED lights, fake sand, water and glitter. The Orb was one of the first props to go into rehearsal. Initially, The Glowing Orb was meant to symbolize creation and its chaos. As time went on, it became clear in rehearsal that it was much more than that. Physically it had been heightened to a level that its meaning transcended the ordinary. Although the water was the only channel of change in the play, The Orb became the spirit of metamorphoses – both the play itself and the concept of change and transformation. With the change of the LED lights, the configuration of its timing, and manipulation of the actors, The Orb assumed new roles. It embodied the concept of creation, change, chaos and order; the spirit of the tree which Erysichthon cuts down; the manifestation of the Sleep’s grotto; the presence that grants Myrrha her wish to dissolve, to name some. With most of the headpieces at least half done, flowers and head belts pulled and set aside, Supernat began working on alterations of costumes from stock. Ordering the dresses I had found was the next step but lo and behold, most of the dresses I sourced were sold out! This was quite frustrating! I had to begin the search all over again and so I did. We ordered Midas’ daughter’s dress first. I eventually found dresses for Aphrodite and Ceres which were my priority since I had little hope in finding them locally. Roberts and I made a list of the remaining dresses to be bought and went shopping locally to get them. The water was a factor to be continually considered. It was the first thing we all considered with the costumes and props we pulled; the dresses and fabrics we bought and the headpieces that were made. Questions like: Does this character go into the water at all? How wet does the character get – knee below wet or fully wet? Is there any chance that this costume or prop would get wet? What is this textile? Does it have to be dry cleaned, hand washed or machine washed? How would it react in water – float or sink? Did it get clingy or/and transparent when wet? How transparent would it get? I would call this the “Water Quiz”. With the rate at which things changed in rehearsal, we could not assume that any character would remain dry at all in this show. I had a meeting with Kadri and we talked about the characters that each actor was to play, if they got wet and how wet they got according to the script; and his vison or ideas for the character’s relationship with the water. We agreed on some characters that could not get wet.

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After this meeting, it was easier to go ahead with testing fabrics and shopping. Kadri made it a point of duty to ask me if a character could get wet before blocking a scene. This was very helpful in giving wardrobe a heads up and offering advice to Kadri concerning possible character blocking in the play. Lisa suggested giving Poseidon and Hermes double costumes since they get very wet. I had not thought of doubles so I was thankful for that suggestion. A Wet & Dry List for the show was requested. The list made things a lot easier in props, costumes and rehearsal. It was a starting point for tracking the actors’ wetness, quick changes and movements during rehearsal.

Fig. 26. First part of the Wet and Dry List – Version 1

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We put every fabric we considered through the Water Quiz. I was very choosey about the fabrics I found. Still looking for ways to explore the vulnerability of love and humanity through partial nudity; I decided to have the Sailors, Henchmen and male Narrators shirtless. I was unwilling to go shirtless with the female actors playing narrators. This is a reflection of current cultural norms and I felt topless young women would take us of out of the moment in the play. Though the script says that Eros is naked, Kadri and I wanted to explore the sensuality and sexuality of the character through partial nudity. So, I went with my research of cupid with fabric covering his private part instead of the one with him nude or in a toga. I went with speedos as the fabric.

Fig. 27 Author's Collage of Eros & Psyche References

Arriving at the conclusion that the Midas daughter’s golden effect would be done through lighting, her dress took a while to build. Kadri and I loved the idea and were excited about the

Uwadiae 41 possibility. Wasilewski suggested LED string lights. We found a waterproof starry LED string light on amazon.ca that came with different lighting configurations. We ordered them, tested them and I started sewing the lights into the dress. After I did the bottom half, we called in the actors playing Midas and his daughter for a fitting for the dress to be sure that it allowed for her movements and when she had to sit down. It worked great. Kadri gave me the go ahead to do the top half. The dress was made of thin knit fabric and was really fragile. I put the lights on top of the dress and created an overlay from the excess hem.

Fig. 28. Midas’ Daughter’s Dress (before the top part was covered)

Coming to watch the rehearsals was a very important part of my design process. Previous shows did not require my attendance as much as this one. Attending rehearsals informed me of movement and blocking that were taking place. Even though they were most likely going to be changed down the road, it gave me a sense of what the director had in mind and allowed me to visualize the costumes in movement and transition. During one of the early rehearsals in which I was present, Kadri asked about the possibility of having lights come out of Sleep’s teddy bear’s eyes. I learnt during my visits to rehearsals that Kadri directed based on what was in the room. He had ideas but was never too attached to any so I was no longer surprised at the changes that

Uwadiae 42 were requested and scenes that were added during rehearsal and I found that I could offer suggestions along the way. Kadri is open to collaboration. For the Underworld, I knew that lighting was going to play a major role in the look and perception. I wanted the costumes of the Denizens to look like they had on a second skin, broken down to look dirty with raggedy pieces hanging from it. I chose unitards for the costume pieces hoping to use fabric pieces from wardrobe for the dangling pieces. After watching in rehearsal, the movements of the denizens in rehearsal, I knew I was on the right path. I expressed the need to buy unitards for the Denizens so that work could begin early on them to Roberts and she brought out a box of what she called “Wonder Unders” from stock. I took a look, agreed on them and started getting them fitted. When I got a semi-final number of Denizens, I pulled some masks from props stock. After fitting, they went into rehearsal. I pinned pieces of fabrics onto the wonder unders and they were sewn in. After they were washed in net bags and dried, I realized that I had to add more textured dangling pieces because the cheese cloth I made use of, rolled into itself. This was unexpected so I added more fabrics. After they had been washed and dried, they tangled into each other! The possibility of this had not cross my mind! I went in with a pair of scissors and made the rags less complicated. Then I moved the Denizens and Hunger’s costume to the Props shop and started breaking them down. Viczko put me through how to use the fabric paints and base and she offered helpful suggestions. My goal was to make the denizen costumes look dirty and murky under the lights and to make Hunger look tattered and filthy. Some of the masks came in sets so, I was not allowed to paint the faces of the masks. I attached fabrics to the denizen masks to create breakdown.

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Fig. 29. Show Photo of Denizens. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

For the show, there many versions of the Costume plot. The final one ended up being very different from the one I started with before the final casting. I learned very early on working on a show with this many characters and an ensemble cast to expect that roles and characters would change; and props, scenes and costume pieces would be added. A lot of changes and cuts took place during the rehearsal process. As he began the directing process, Kadri’s ideas became clearer and more articulated. He originally wanted to begin the show with a baptism. Baptism symbolises rebirth and the play begins with the story of the birth of the world. He found an interesting parallel that he wanted to draw upon. Baptiser and Baptisee were cast and had their costumes fitted. However, as this idea was explored in rehearsal, the Baptiser was cut and the Baptisee would no longer be submerged in the water for the baptism. This meant that the actor would not have wet hair before she plays Eurydice the bride. Another instance: Erysichthon acquired a servant. After the servant’s costume was pulled and fitted, the character was cut! I grew used to this and even started expecting these changes. A swimsuit was added to Midas’ costumes – he was to wear it underneath his golden robe. I knew immediately that I wanted it to be an interesting one; one that would grab attention like his golden robe did and make him stand out in his scene. In performance, it caused the kind of reaction I was going for. It absolutely stood out in the scene. It sometimes elicited laughs from the audience which was a bonus. Persephone even though she was mentioned in the script was not originally cast. The character was added in rehearsal. I had chosen black as the colour of the underworld in terms of

Uwadiae 44 costumes, so I pulled a black velvet dress with beaded bodice for her. As the Queen of the Underworld, she had to be elegant so I decided to give a train. I pulled a similar beaded velvet fabric from the fabric stock available in the costume shop to be used as a train. The fabric was not a lot but I explained my idea to Roberts and she called for a fitting to go about it. As the daughter of Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest and Queen of the Underworld; Persephone also needed a headpiece. I decided on a golden mask adorned with flowers to show her duality – how she belonged both in the Underworld and the Heavenly realm. Bearing in mind that I wanted the designs to be heightened, I decided to design a mask inspired by one the headpieces I found early on in my process. Hermes, God of speed and distant messages has on a tunic with winged golden ankle cuffs and a golden half mask the shape of wings.

Fig. 30. Banwell, Tom. Raven leather mask in black. Hermes Mask Inspiration Wanelo.com

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Fig. 31. Author’s Final Design of Hermes Fig. 32. Author’s Final Design of Hermes’ Mask

The mask was started before the show was cast. The mask sat away from the actor’s face so I asked for extra “wing” pieces to be added and curved to fit his face so that it would look better. During a later fitting, the actor complained that his peripheral vision was covered by the mask. We cut the mask into two and put a golden elastic in between. This helped a great deal. For comfort, mole skin was added to the inside of the mask and the elastic was changed and tightened to make the mask more secure on his face. This taught me to ALWAYS wait for the actor to be cast and fitted before building anything that goes on the face because the time spent adjusting the mask to the actor’s face would have been saved and used for other things. In the future, I would do definitely do things differently.

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Fig. 33. Author’s Photograph of Hermes Mask before alterations Fig. 34. Author’s Photograph of Hermes Mask after alterations

One of the times that Wasilewski went shopping; she came back with a pair of wooden scroll wings as a suggestion for the music stand. I was delighted by them and decided to design the music stand based on them. I sent in my Vector works drafting of the music stand and had a discussion about my thoughts behind it. She suggested that instead of ply wood we made use of plexi-glass to give focus to the wings shape. That a suggestion I was happy to use!

Fig. 35. Author’s Vectorworks Drafting of the Music Stand

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Fig. 36. Author’s Photograph of the Music Stand

I made a Makeup plot and had a meeting with the hair and makeup assistant. I decided to make use of top lid eye liner, mascara, highlighter and blush for both male and female actors as the base makeup and coloured lipstick for Aphrodite, Hades, Ceres and Persephone. I had a meeting with Kadri in which we discussed beard styles and lipstick colours.

Hunger had come a long way from the initial idea of Gollum into Hunger with a hair. I still wanted “something” to happen to her hair. The actor playing Hunger got her face cast for her mask so that she would be able to breathe and speak in it. She has beautiful curly hair. Still trying to figure out what to do with her hair, we tried on a hood that had long pieces sticking out from the top from stock which did not work. I wanted her in single braids but changing out of that would be impossible. So, we called her in for a hair test. She was able to make her hair look ratty and wretched by back combing and it looked great for Hunger! I wanted to add hair barrettes with raffia pieces to her hair. After a bunch of suggestions and considering her quick change, I decided on a hair band with dirty and ratty looking cheese cloth attached to it.

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Fig. 37. Author’s Prelim. Design of Hunger Fig. 38. Author’s Final Design of Hunger Fig. 39. Author’s Photograph of Hunger

When the pool was filled with water and it started being used in rehearsal; there was an injury as a result of the actor slipping. The floor had layers of grit which did little to help with traction. There was a suggestion to coat the under of actor’s feet with latex and after witnessing an actor fall and be taken to the hospital for stitches, I agreed to it. Julia had lots of Liquid latex in stock which required ten minutes to cure. The Latex however came off on deck so that did not help. One of the Costume ASMs in a production meeting suggested Foot Undies which dancers use for traction. It sounded hopeful so, we tested a pair in the pool and on deck. It seemed to work fine. Roberts went shopping the next day for foot undies. There were mixed reviews from the actors about their safety in it. The actors still had to watch out of their own safety. The designers and production team were doing everything in their power to make the deck as safe as possible. In the end, there was an eleventh hour change to the choice of decking onstage. A composite deck was installed that had fantastic grip and carpets were laid on the paths offstage. This eliminated the requirement for the foot undies in the end. Safety was the original choice for the foot undies.

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DESIGN IN PERFORMANCE

Kadri and I talked about creating a beautiful and heightened world and that is what it was! The first time I saw everyone in all their costumes and headpieces in the space and with lights, I was amazed. The team and I had spent months working on this project and getting bogged down on all the minute details. It was exciting to see the big picture come together. It was amazing to watch how ordinary pieces of props metamorphosed into elevated states. The jar of water and sand had evolved into the Glowing Orb. It became the 20th actor on stage. It was designed for the beginning, the creation of the universe in which the scientist brings it in and takes it out but it had evolved into the spirit of the play itself. A symbol for change and transformation. More than taking on roles, it became a force of nature within the play. The teddy bear, though it appeared briefly, became Morpheus with blue lit eyes, the 21st actor.

Fig. 40. The Scientist holding the Glowing Orb. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 41. Sleep summoning Morpheus. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

The pool of water physically has a presence that cannot be ignored visually. The water is present because it is the overwhelming force of change in the stories. Within each myth the water also assumes different roles and function for instance: in the story Myrrha, the water is the bed on which incest if committed; it then become the weapon with which Cinyras tries to kill Myrrha and at the end of the scene it becomes the stream in which Myrrha dissolves.

During the tech run, the Midas’ daughter’s dress did not come on when she turned to gold. That had been a growing concern for me since it hardly came on during cue-to-cue. The distance between the daughter’s embrace and the stage hand that pressed the remote was quite significant. I also was not sure if the remote battery or the light batteries were the issue. McDonald volunteered to combine the two battery packs into one. The actress playing Sleep was concerned about her hearing in the pillow hat and Halina added a large button hole to help. I noticed that Siobhan’s hat as a narrator cast a shadow on her face and I asked if Kadri was okay with it. He was not. Julia added LED lights to the music stand and Kadri advised the actor to keep her head up.

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Before the run, I got news that the Nursemaids scarf which is also used as a blindfold for Cinyras had gone missing. I pulled one before the show and hoped it would work as needed. The run inevitably resulted in some notes. The male actors who were shirtless with trousers found that when they got wet the trousers would drop, putting their underwear was on display! Ceyx, the henchmen, and the sailors all had to have their trousers taken in. The actor playing Erysichthon came onstage with rolled ankle cuffs. I found out later that this was because the trousers were dropping due to the weight added by water. He was given a belt which easily rectified that issue. I had to provide raggedy disguises for Zeus and Hermes for when they come to the earth as beggars and I had to do more blending on the breakdown painted on Hunger’s dress. Midas’ daughter’s dress light did not come on yet again at the next dress rehearsal due to the wires coming off. Kadri decided to change the blocking and move the embrace closer to where the stage hand would press the remote hoping that this would bring the dress closer and within the required range for the remote. The battery pack which was facing her side was also moved to the back all in a bid to make it turn on consistently. Silenus had dropping pants as well. I gave him a wretched robe I found in stock which went very well with his drunken character. Poseidon’s belt was separating from his trousers when they were wet. Velcro was added to the pants and belt to give more support. The Bear eyes did not come on; the actor needed more practice with the switch mechanism. Cinyras costume had to change for two major reasons: his costume absorbed a lot more water than expected and leaked water like a tap on stage and his blue robe did not belong to the same world as his daughter’s costume and the other ones in the scene. This was a problem because even though I pulled from different periods for the show, the visual unity of the all the costumes in a scene was part of the storytelling. In this case it was clear that my concept of timelessness had to be further defined. His costume was re-designed to a pair of navy trousers and white shirt that fitted the world visually.

Dress rehearsal was better. Alcyone’s dress had a double because of how wet it would be every night. We were worried about it looking worse after every run in the pool. To our amazement, the dress was just fine! Zeus and Hermes’ crushed velvet fabric also shocked me. I

Uwadiae 52 expected the same thing especially since the fabric is white. Instead, it floated beautifully on the pool! Aphrodite’s dress gave me so much joy. I was concerned about how it would look after being in the water – if it would lose life after every show and just deteriorate visually but it did not! It was also easy to towel dry every time she got wet so when she reappeared on stage, it was like she had not just been in the water! Even though Zeus robe got heavy, Aaron the actor did not mind, he expected that and did not have a problem with it. The daughter’s dress STILL did not light up. At this point, Kadri said he would re-block the scene so that the servant comes in with the remote and puts the lights on. That was literally the last resort in trying to make the light work at this point I had my fingers crossed. The Glowing Orb which had worked from the beginning of rehearsal to that night, broke! One end of it fell off offstage leaving glitter everywhere. Honestly, I was just grateful that it did not fall off during opening night in the pool and Julia said it would not take too much to put it back together.

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SUMMARY

Opening night was stunning! Even though I had seen it a number of times, I was still honoured to be a part of this experience which was a steep learning curve for me. I could not help but keep my fingers crossed about Midas’ daughter’s dress and when it lit up, I nearly jumped out of my seat in joy! Kadri and I started this journey with a vision to create an extraordinary world of beauty and it became a reality. For this to happen, some ideas were modified to meet technical or budget requirements, some dissolved into thin air during the process, some were birthed along the way and others evolved. As envisaged, the costumes and props transformed the actors into characters and became one of the ways through which transformations took place onstage. The water which was an exciting challenge, brought out the best in some of the designs and direction. As grateful as I am about the performance and the process it took, some ideas I played with were successful and some did not turn out as I hoped.

Exploring Ori within the cosmology of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, as a means of heightening their appearance and infusing divinity into the actors, was an enlightening experiment. In performance, it worked subtly, not as emphasized as I visualized. The distinction between the gods and humans was clear but given the chance, I would explore it further by making the headpieces more extraordinary and elaborate in scale; to further emphasize the supernatural nature of the gods and goddesses. The actor playing Aphrodite sometimes forgot her headpiece backstage before coming onstage. This took away from the exploration of Ori within the goddess’ character and her myths. I felt she appeared ordinary when she came onstage without her crown. If her crown had been more elaborate, the absence of it would have created an even bigger void of her divinity regardless of her other costume pieces. I was delighted with the outcome of the props. The decision to heighten some props and Kadri’s integration of the props into the storytelling gave them a living presence onstage. In performance, some of the props were used in more ways than I foresaw – the glowing orb and Sleep’s teddy bear.

The rain sequence in the play was moved from Orpheus and Eurydice’s scene to Psyche and Eros’ scene. It became the immortality potion that Zeus gave to Psyche. The rain made it

Uwadiae 54 more beautiful when Eros embraced Psyche and his wings covered her. The golden paint on Eros’ wing-cape seemed to disappear as he moved under the lights making me wish I added more layers. Midas’ daughter’s dress did not come on for every performance which was frustrating. Given the chance to do it again, I would still use lights but it would be a proper wearable technology dress triggered by the actor and not a remote. Red lights were used during Ceyx’s shipwreck scene so the shades of blue trousers all had a nice purple hue to them. The colour palette for Phaeton’s scene was partially successful. Phaeton’s swimsuit was pulled from stock. It was patterned with orange and other cool colours unlike the plain orange I originally intended. However, I think it captured Phaeton’s restlessness so, it worked well. I wanted the eye holes of Hermes’ mask to be bigger because his eyes were barely seen. In hindsight, we should have re-built the mask earlier on. Erysichthon’s costume did not turn out as I had imagined. I was looking for a distinguished formality. I had in mind a contemporary waist coat and black suit trousers. During the final costing, his costume was agreed to be pulled; however, the pulled costume did not fit the actor. Due to time, budget and the fact that the character was going to be submerged in water, I pulled a waist coat from a different period and Roberts bought a black pair of cotton trousers. She could not find black suit trousers the size of the actor so she bought thicker and firmer trousers. I was a bit skeptical but she convinced me it would work just fine. In performance, I realized that I should not have settled for them. The pocket flaps stood out throughout the scene! The initial idea of a sepia colour theme for the scene was also not very successful. Looking back, I would adhere more firmly to the vision and make better colour choices. Overall, I was pleased with the way all the elements came together to transform and tell the stories together and lift these age long stories out of the mundane into a heightened realm.

The depiction of levels: the heavenly plane and the earthly plane within the world of Metamorphoses through costumes was successful. The higher and lower gods and goddesses had on headpieces and elegant costumes according to their god-ship (area of dominion); the high- class characters had on colourful costumes without headpieces; the middle-class characters had on colourful costumes mixed with earth tones; the lower-class characters had on earth tones only. The Laundresses and the Narrators, who were omnipresent in the world of the play, not belonging to either plane had on neutral tones. The expression of human vulnerability through

Uwadiae 55 partial nudity turned out well. The illustration of sexuality and sensuality through partial nudity for Eros and Aphrodite was very successful. Costumes in performance played a heavy role in the transformations onstage: shedding of costume pieces in the water and onstage and the way the hang or look of a costume would change after it has been in water. For instance, after Myrrha dissolved into the stream and is completely submerged in the water, her dress lost its bounce or its “life”. It died with the character.

The agelessness of the myths and the concept of timelessness came together well in performance. During the process, it became apparent that the concept had to be more defined with regards to the way the different costume silhouettes came together. I had to be careful in pulling costume inspirations from different time periods and cultures within every scene so that I did not have to sacrifice the visual quality and the aesthetic unity of the scenes. This became most evident in Myrrha’s scene. Cinyras’ initial robe made him look like he came back from a previous century to be her father. This necessitated a change into something more contemporary so that visual quality of the scene did not turn out disjointed.

Mary Zimmerman’s introduction of a pool of water into this recreation of age-long myths, unearthed a depth to the stories, characters and the realm of Greek and Roman myths; that I believe over time has been buried in the many reincarnations of these stories through poetry, music and drama to name a few. Fergusson (qtd. in Garwood 70), was right in his observation because as the myths fecunded Zimmerman’s imagination, a new potential was discovered that will forever change the way these stories are envisioned and passed on. Her integration of the past and present with science and art in this work is praiseworthy. In its entirety, this play is a timeless piece that presented a worthy challenge and learning opportunity as a thesis project.

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WORKS CITED

Banwell, Tom. Raven leather mask in black. Hermes Mask Inspiration. n.d. Wanelo.com. Web. https://wanelo.co/store/tombanwell. Accessed Apr. 2017. Garwood, D. "Myth as Public Dream: The Metamorphosis of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses." PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, vol. 25 no. 1, 2003, pp. 69- 78. Project MUSE. Web. http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/view_citations?type=article&id=37869. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017. Ile Ori (Shrine of the Head). n.d. Metmuseum.org. Web. http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310459?sortBy=Relevance&deptids=5&w here=Africa&who=Yoruba&ft=*&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1. Accessed Dec. 2017. Matyszak, Philip. The Greek and Roman Myths: A Guide to the Classical Stories. Print. Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2010. Ponce, Sigrid. Fashion Photography. 2013. Behance.net. Web. www.behance.net/gallery/9894341/Fashion-Photography. Accessed Apr. 2017. Zimmerman, Mary. “Conversation: Mary Zimmerman’s ‘Metamorphoses’” By Jeffery Brown. PBS News Hour, Molly Finnegan, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation-mary-zimmermans-metamorphoses. Accessed 22 May. 2017. Zimmerman, Mary. “Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Mary Zimmerman”. PBS NOW, 22 Mar. 2002. Web. http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_zimmerman.html. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017. Zimmerman, Mary. Metamorphoses. Print. Northwestern University Press, 2002.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Conversation: Mary Zimmerman's 'Metamorphoses'”. YouTube, uploaded by PBS News Hour, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1p2jEI3lEA. Accessed Apr. 2017 Banwell, Tom. Raven leather mask in black. Hermes Mask Inspiration Wanelo.com. Web. https://wanelo.co/store/tombanwell. Accessed Apr. 2017. Garwood, D. "Myth as Public Dream: The Metamorphosis of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses." PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, vol. 25 no. 1, 2003, pp. 69- 78. Project MUSE. Web. http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/view_citations?type=article&id=37869. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017. Ifaloju, Awoyinfa. “Ori – The Divine Calabash of Destiny, Character & Potential, Seed of the Creator”. Ifa Speaks… Mar. 2007. http://www.ifaspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/03/ori-divine- calabash-of-destiny.html. Accessed 3 June. 2017. Ile Ori (Shrine of the Head). n.d. Metmuseum.org. Web. http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310459?sortBy=Relevance&deptids=5&w here=Africa&who=Yoruba&ft=*&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1. Accessed Dec. 2017. Matyszak, Philip. The Greek and Roman Myths: A Guide to the Classical Stories. Print. Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2010. Slavitt, David R. translator. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Print. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. Ponce, Sigrid. Fashion Photography. 2013. Behance.net. Web. www.behance.net/gallery/9894341/Fashion-Photography. Accessed Apr. 2017. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Water in The Metamorphoses." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. https://www.shmoop.com/metamorphoses/water-symbol.html. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017. Zimmerman, Mary. “Conversation: Mary Zimmerman’s ‘Metamorphoses’”. PBS News Hour, Molly Finnegan, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/conversation- mary-zimmermans-metamorphoses. Accessed 22 May. 2017.

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Zimmerman, Mary. “Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Mary Zimmerman”. PBS NOW, 22 Mar. 2002. Web. http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_zimmerman.html. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017. Zimmerman, Mary. Metamorphoses. Print. Northwestern University Press, 2002.

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APPENDIX A – COPYRIGHT APPROVAL FROM CITRUS PHOTOGRAPHY

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APPENDIX B - COSTUME SKETCHES & RESULTS

Fig. 42. Author’s Final Design of Zeus Fig. 43. Author’s Photograph of Zeus Fig. 44. Author’s Photograph of Zeus

Fig. 45. Author’s Final Design of Hermes Fig. 46. Author’s Photograph of Hermes Fig. 47. Author’s Photograph of Hermes as Beggar

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Fig. 48. Author’s Final Design of Bacchus Fig. 49. Author’s Photograph of Bacchus

Fig. 50. Author’s Final Design of Apollo Fig. 51. Author’s Photograph of Apollo

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Fig. 52. Author’s Final Design of Poseidon Fig. 53. Author’s Photograph of Poseidon Fig. 54. Author’s Photograph of Poseidon as Narrator

Fig. 55. Author’s Final Design of Hades Fig. 56. Author’s Photograph of Hades Fig. 57. Author’s Photograph of Persephone

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Fig. 58. Author’s Final Design of Eros Fig. 59. Author’s Photograph of Eros

Fig. 60. Author’s Photograph of Eros Fig. 61. Author’s Photograph of Eros

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Fig. 62. Author’s Final Design of Sleep Fig. 63. Author’s Photograph of Sleep

Fig. 64. Author’s Final Design of Hunger Fig. 65. Author’s Photograph of Hunger

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Fig. 66. Author’s Final Design of Aphrodite Fig. 67. Author’s Photograph of Aphrodite

Fig. 68. Author’s Final Design of Ceres Fig. 69. Author’s Photograph of Ceres

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Fig. 70. Author’s Final Design of Iris Fig. 71. Author’s Photograph of Iris

Fig. 72. Author’s Final Design of Laundress Fig. 73. Author’s Photograph of Laundress

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Fig. 74. Author’s Final Design of Scientist Fig. 75 . Author’s Photograph of Scientist

Fig. 76. Author’s Final Design of Midas Fig. 77. Author’s Photograph of Midas Fig. 78. Author’s Photo of Midas in Swimsuit

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Fig. 79. Author’s Final Design of Midas’ Servant Fig. 80. Author’s Photograph of Midas’ Servant

Fig. 81. Author’s Final Design of Silenus Fig. 82. Author’s Photograph of Silenus

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Fig. 83. Author’s Final Design of Midas’ Daughter Fig. 84. Author’s Photograph of Midas’ Daughter

Fig. 85. Author’s Final Design of Ceyx Fig. 86. Author’s Photograph of Ceyx

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Fig. 87. Author’s Final Design of Dead Ceyx Fig. 88. Author’s Photograph of Dead Ceyx

Fig. 89. Author’s Final Design of Sailor Fig. 90. Author’s Photograph of Sailor

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Fig. 91. Author’s Final Design of Henchman Fig. 92. Author’s Photograph of Henchman

Fig. 93. Author’s Final Designs of Alcyone Fig. 94. Author’s Photograph of Alcyone Fig. 95. Author’s Photograph of Alcyone as the Seabird

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Fig. 96. Author’s Final Design of Lucina Fig. 97. Author’s Photograph of Lucina

Fig. 98. Author’s Final Design of Erysichthon Fig. 99. Author’s Photograph of Erysichthon

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Fig. 100. Author’s Final Design of Erysicthon’s Mother Fig. 101. Author’s Photograph of Erysichton’ Mother Fig. 102. Author’s Photograph of Little Girl

Fig. 103. Author’s Final Design of Buyer Fig. 104. Author’s Photograph of Buyer

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Fig. 105. Author’s Final Design of Orpheus Fig. 106. Author’s Photograph of Orpheus

Fig. 107. Author’s Final Design of Eurydice (Alive) Fig. 108. Author’s Photograph of Eurydice (Alive)

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Fig. 109. Author’s Final Design of Eurydice (Dead) Fig. 110. Author’s Photograph of Eurydice (Dead)

Fig. 111. Author’s Final Design of Oread Fig. 112. Author’s Photograph of Oread

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Fig. 113. Author’s Final Design of Myrrha Fig. 114. Author’s Photograph of Myrrha

Fig. 115. Author’s Photograph of Fig. 116. Author’s Final Design of Vertumnus Fig. 117. Author’s Photograph of Vertumnus Vertumnus as Old Woman

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Fig. 118. Author’s Final Design of Pomona Fig. 119. Author’s Photograph of Pomona

Fig. 120. Author’s Final Design of Cinyras Fig. 121. Author’s Photograph of Cinyras

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Fig. 122. Author’s Final Design of Nursemaid Fig. 123. Author’s Photograph of Nursemaid

Fig. 124. Author’s Final Design of Psyche Fig. 125. Author’s Photograph of Psyche

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Fig. 126. Author’s Final Design of Therapist Fig. 127. Author’s Photograph of Therapist

Fig. 128. Author’s Final Design of Phaeton Fig. 129. Author’s Photograph of Phaeton

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Fig. 130. Author’s Final Design of Baucis Fig. 131. Author’s Photograph of Baucis

Fig. 132. Author’s Final Design of Philemon Fig. 133. Author’s Photograph of Philemon

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Fig. 134. Author’s Photograph of Woman Fig. 135. Author’s Photograph of Female Narrator Fig. 136. Author’s Photograph of Male Narrator

Fig. 137. Author’s Photograph of Wedding Guest Fig. 138. Author’s Photograph of Wedding guest before the wedding

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APPENDIX C - PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHS

Fig. 139. The Woman in the beginning of Creation. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 140. The Scientist with the "Jar of Sand and Water". Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 141. The Three Laundresses and Midas. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 142. Midas in his Swimsuit. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 143. Alcyone and Ceyx. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 144. Poseidon and Ceyx in the Shipwreck. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 145. Iris waking Sleep up. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 146. Morpheus summoning Dead Ceyx. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 147. Dead Ceyx appearing to Alcyone in a dream. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 148. Alcyone transformed into the Seabird. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 149. Hunger filling Erysichthon with a bottomless hunger. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 150. Erysicthon consuming himself. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 151. Orpheus and Eurydice in their wedding ceremony. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 152. Eurydice transforming into the dead. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 153. Orpheus and the Denizens. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 154. Orpheus, Hermes and Dead Eurydice on their parade out of the Underworld. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 155. Echo replicating the Narcissus plant. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 156. Vertumnus as the Old woman with Pomona. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 157. Nursemaid comforting Myrrah. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 158. Myrrah transforming into tears. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 159. Phaeton demanding for Apollo's car keys with Therapist. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

Fig. 160. Psyche searching for Eros. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography

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Fig. 161. Psyche and Eros as Zeus gives her the immortality potion. Photo Credit: Citrus Photography