After going to the opening night of Fossil Ridge High School’s Metamorphoses, I have to say I was very impressed. The cast, crew, stage, effects and costumes were phenomenal. I was pleasantly surprised that having an up close and personal audience in the Black box room as opposed to the PAC actually made the play better than what I had originally thought. The other factor that took me by surprise was the amount of special effects that made it the play that much realer. With a fog machine, a fountain, stars in the night, sounds, and even a strobe light during the storm scene, it really added to the show.
Metamorphoses was about a collection of Greek short stories about the change and transformation and the affects it has on people. With the help or harm of Greek Gods, characters from Midas to Psyche go through periods of transformation, hence the title. Some scenes had a storybook ending, like the story of Psyche and Eros, whereas other stories had disturbing ends to them such as the story of the man who was so hungry he ate his own foot.
The actors were especially great, making you believe in them and hope for their dreams. My favorite character though would have to be Mary Werner’s Hunger. A creepy malnourished girl who was the spirit of hunger. Makeup done horrifically well, a ragged costume, and eerie almost ballerinalike moves characterized this creepy character. She twisted and contorted her body just so; jumping upon the back of her victim and making him starve. It was by far one of my favorite parts, the other being the storm scene during the vignette of Alycone and Ceyx. As Ceyx’s ship drowns, wild sounds of storms are played and the lights are out except for strobe lights. Other people go dancing through the night, spinning ribbons to further add to the effect of a storm as sea. It was amazing to say the least.
My only issue with the whole performance was that I got confused when an actor became a new character. With a small cast of ten and a million different costume changes, sometimes it was hard to tell whether or not someone was supposed to be the same character or a new one. Also, not everyone was familiar with Greek culture and didn’t get all the jokes, but I did and I thought they were hilarious.
Overall, I would give Metamorphoses a four and a half out of five stars, and it was definitely a must see. It was by far one of the best, most unique performances we’ve had here at Fossil Ridge.
