Myths, monsters and marionettes
By KAREN SHADE, 4/10/2006
The Cyclops (left) encounters Silenos and a ram during a performance of "The Cyclops" at Nightingale Theater. SHERRY BROWN / Tulsa World
Nightingale Theater turns Homer's tale into puppet show
Finding an easy description of Nightingale Theater's newest show is as tough as the landscaping fabric John Cruncleton and his father have strung across the stage.
How do you sum up a new translation of a Greek classic, which was based on an epic poem considered ancient by mid-400 B.C., that is interspersed with fantasy and gore, all to be translated through cardboard figures behind a weed screen?
The Nightingale isn't likely to put the material to its common use under a layer of mulch, and neither does Euripides get the conventional treatment.
On Thursday, the Nightingale Theater will open its next show, "The Cyclops," a Euripides play from the late classical Greek period translated by Tulsan Amy Wilson.
They will tell the story with shadow puppets made by Cruncleton, working under the auspices of his Horsemeat Flea Circus.
"It's a real stylized piece," Cruncleton said, making use of stock characters such as drunkards and wise men. But Euripides added a mystical element to the story of the Cyclops taken from Homer's epic poem, "The Odyssey," by throwing a few wily satyrs into it.
In Greek mythology, satyrs are companions of Dionysus, god of wine. Creatures of the woods and mountains, satyrs look half-human, half-goat; they spend their days drinking wine, singing, playing music and dancing, Wilson said.
Euripides knew his tragedy (he wrote "Medea," "Hippolytus," "Electra" and "Trojan Women"), but his tribute to Dionysian excesses is a turn from his other plays. "The Cyclops" carries the distinction of being the only complete satyr play in existence, Wilson said.
Little is known of the satyr plays beyond that they were bawdy and concluded tragedy-laden Greek drama festivals on a lighter note, Wilson said.
Most of the satyr plays are based on the era around and just after the Trojan War.
"The satyr play, in a way, is kind of an ironic commentary on tragic themes . . . kind of a reversal and clown-take on heroism and tragedy," Cruncleton said.
Wilson studied Latin and Greek at the University of Tulsa and wrote comparative translations of Euripides' tragedy "Iphigenia Among the Taurians" and, from German, Goethe's "Iphigenie auf Taurus" for her senior thesis.
She said she and Cruncleton have talked about the show for several years but have only recently been able to make it work. She said Euripides' take on Homer's tale about the Cyclops, written several hundred years earlier, is comical rather than elegant.
"When you're looking at a work, a story that's been told different ways, I think it's helpful to look at the differences in the way it's told," she said.
At the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus and his men sail to the Cyclop's island and end up trapped in a cave with a troop of satyrs. The one-eyed giant makes a handy meal of his captives from time to time. They stay trapped until they figure out how to get past the boulder rolled in front of the entrance and the cyclops himself when he rolls it away to allow his sheep in and out of the cave.
"In this story," Wilson said, "the satyrs are there and they help Odysseus out. In this story, because of the Dionysian element, the wine comes into play, and Odysseus has brought with him this very strong wine."
The stories also differ because Euripides did not include the part where Odysseus and his men are tied to the bellies of rams to escape the newly blinded cyclops.
Euripides' rendition isn't without tragedy, but the satyrs add a naughty twist to storytelling in the spirit of debauchery. Now it's up to Cruncleton and friends at the theater to turn cardboard figures pieced together with screws, string, wooden rods and tape into an adventure.
Wilson said she believes there is still a place for the mythological satyr play in contemporary storytelling.
"I think it's got a lot to say to a modern audience," she said.
'The Cyclops'
What: Shadow puppet restaging of a Greek classic
When: Special preview at 8 p.m. Wednesday; regular run at 8 p.m. Thursday- Friday, 7 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. April 21, and 7 and 8 p.m. April 22. A talkback session with the play's translator and designer is scheduled to follow the April 21 show.
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Admission: Tickets for Wednesday's preview are $5. Tickets for regular-run showings are $8. Play is for mature audiences. For more information and reservations, call 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666].