Fusing styles, 'Tereus' turns myth into vivid reality

By Ryan McKittrick, Globe Correspondent, 9/19/2003

Tereus in Fragments: A Lost Play by Sophocles
Play in three acts by Lisa Maurizio
At: The Boston Cneter for the Arts, through Sept. 21. 617-426-2787

Plodding across the stage to the steady beat of a taiko percussionist, the actress Gretchen Knapp makes a daunting entrance in the Animus Ensemble's boldly imaginative premiere production of

"Tereus in Fragments." Wearing a grotesque tunic, Knapp treads across the BCA's black-box theater with hippo-like determination. When she opens her mouth to speak, her eyes bulge and the bottom of her hoopskirt tunic sways menacingly. Her voice is something between a screech and a shout. Knapp's stunningly convincing cross-dressed performance as the Thracian barbarian Tereus is just one of this engaging production's many surprises. All the actors have remarkably well-trained voices and bodies, and the troupe as a whole shows complete commitment to director John Ambrosino's fusion of ancient Japanese and ancient Greek theater.

The Tereus myth is best known through Ovid's account in "The Metamorphoses." Centuries before, however, Sophocles had dramatized the myth for Athenian audiences. Today, that work exists only in 57 scattered fragments. To reconstruct the lost drama, classics scholar and playwright Lisa Maurizio has combined these fragments with text from Noh dramas, Sappho's poetry, and contemporary Greek poets.

Mutilation, rape, fratricide, and infanticide all play a part in this brutal Greek myth. The story charts a cycle of revenge that begins when Tereus is given Princess Procne as thanks for defending Athens. As soon as Procne is dragged off to barbarian Thrace, she finds herself isolated. Procne complains she's been stripped of her native tongue, and she begs her husband to let her sister Philomela come visit. Tereus goes to fetch Philomela, raping her and cutting out her tongue on the way back. When Procne discovers Tereus's heinous crime, the two sisters concoct an equally horrific plan to exact their revenge.

Bloody and spectacular, any production of "Tereus in Fragments" could easily look like the set for a bad horror film. But through the use of shadows, puppetry, choreography, and music, director Ambrosino makes the audience take these atrocities seriously. The Animus Ensemble showed promise with its production of Christopher Durang's "Baby With the Bath Water" last season, and "Tereus" demonstrates that this troupe could become one of Boston's more interesting small companies. The "Tereus" ensemble emits a youthful vigor and an eagerness to experiment with space and sound even at the risk of looking ridiculous. Chinasa Ogbuagu is statuesque and then full of rage as Procne. As her nurse, Uzo Aduba captivates the audience with a resonant voice. Kyla Astley is a remarkably focused servant. And Chloe Lara-Russack, who has the speechless role of Philomela, exercises stillness at times when less accomplished actresses might rely on frantic gesticulation.

It's fitting that one of the most memorable roles is played by a performer with no spoken lines. Punctuating words with incredible precision, drummer Elaine Fong uses the conventions of traditional Japanese percussion to give this production its emotional and rhythmic backbone. The ancient Greeks made music an integral part of their performances, and the Animus Ensemble makes you understand why.