The multiple award-winning Theatre Smith-Gilmour is currently presenting Metamorphoses 2023, an original production that reimagines for the stage the legendary epic poem by Ovid.
This bold and contemporary adaptation of the canonical literary text dating from 8 AD was scheduled to be staged in March 2020 . . . when the pandemic metamorphosed these plans.
One pandemic and three years later, it’s finally here: on stage at Crow’s Theatre until April 9, 2023. Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s adaptation takes inspiration from post mime that incorporates spoken words – with a dialogue between European Mime and Bharatanatyam Dance Style (which uses codified South Asian Mime) at its centre. The production is directed by Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s co-Artistic Director Michele Smith, and features Rob Feetham, Dean Gilmour, Daniel Richard Henkel, Neena Jayarajan, and Sukruti Tirupattur
Smith spoke with SesayArts Magazine about the process of creating Metamorphoses 2023, returning to the company’s mime and movement roots, and the enduring relevance of the epic poem’s themes in modern times.
SesayArts: Why did you decide to adapt Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses as a theatrical work, and what has the creative journey been like? Have there been any significant changes from the production you were working before the pandemic struck to this one?
MS: When Dean [Gilmour] and I dreamt of this project I had a hunch that Ovid’s Metamorphoses could be a beautiful match for Theatre Smith-Gilmour. In the beginning I thought that to create, on a stage, a whole world of metamorphosing would be a great opportunity for us to use the arts of mime, movement and theatre.
It was, as well, an opportunity to look again at our animality, as human beings, through the punishments inflicted on the men and women who trespass, violate and who have to pay for their crimes. (sometimes for crimes they didn’t commit).
Now I think that The Metamorphoses, in spite of the cruelty and irony, is very much about our souls. A metamorphosis is a consolation; it allows the soul to find new lodgings, to escape (death) and relocate. It might be in the wordless world of animals, insects, minerals, but in the end it is better than dying. It is like being in exile (Ovid was in exile) with the hope of a return, come back and be reunited.
SesayArts: What themes especially lend themselves to the current time and Toronto’s diverse audiences, in your view?
MS: Many of Ovid’s stories that we have picked paint the landscape of a cruel world that could very well be our world today: a world of man’s entitlement and woman’s rage. These stories deal with issues of transgender identity, hierarchy, power and rape, homosexuality and women’s empowerment which are issues that our world is dealing with on a daily basis.
SesayArts: What can audiences expect to experience at the show?
MS: For Theatre Smith-Gilmour, Metamorphoses is our return to the source. We’re creating our own contemporary theatre of illusion and magic with the help of mime, experimenting with the styles to see how mythic characters emerge from silence. It’s not about the mime style, but it’s a dynamic between words and silence, it’s about the play (Le Jeu) that we discover in the silence.
To quote Ovid: the audience will see that everything changes. Nothing dies. The soul wanders here and there occupying whatever body it choses. What just was is no longer. What isn’t is about to be. What you are or were is not what you will be tomorrow. Every moment is a rebirth.
SesayArts: I’m intrigued by this snippet from the media release: “At the centre of their adaptation, is a dialogue between European Mime and Bharatanatyam Dance Style” – a fascinating meeting between East and West. Would you like to speak about this aspect of your adaptation?
MS: Our theatre is a theatre that moves. For 42 years we have been traveling the world with our work. We have created work with actors from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre in Shanghai, China. When we first conceived Metamorphoses 2023, we wanted to create a show that would be a return to our mime and movement roots. And at the same time we imagined a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary exploration between our training in European Mime at the School of Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France and the mime of Bharatanatyam Dance.
Four years ago we started working with Neena Jayarajan and Rob Feetham. The work began in silence searching under the surface, breaking open new possibilities to create a theatre that is diverse and that moves. Later Daniel Henkel joined the project and more recently Sukruti Tirupattur joined us. Together we have discovered how Ovid’s Metamorphoses transcends time and speaks to us today about resilience, identity and survival.
SesayArts: What is the biggest surprise to emerge from your work on Metamorphoses 2023? Have there been any challenges?
MS: The biggest challenge was the COVID pandemic, which brought the process to a halt. And yet meeting that challenge meant that the play that we were creating evolved in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
When COVID hit us, we decided to continue adapting new stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and to film the work. The new work nurtured the work that we had done previously, and Metamorphoses 2023 grew and evolved.
One very important decision that we made was to invite a second actress, trained in the performance art form of Bharatanatyam, into the process. This enriched the cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary exploration immeasurably.
SesayArts: What question do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t (and what is the answer)?
MS: Why have you dedicated your lives to creating theatre?
We met at the School of Jacques Lecoq in 1978 and the first show we created was a clown show for the streets. We performed that show in Paris in front of the Beaubourg Centre and in St Germain des Pres alongside fire breathers and jugglers. It was challenging and marvelous. When we left school we dreamed of touring the world with our work and we did. We have been invited to perform our work throughout Canada, China, Europe and Russia. Our travels have enriched our lives and the ‘theatre’ can be a magical place when it is not a place for propaganda.
Metamorphoses 2023 runs until April 9, 2023. Content Advisory: Metamorphoses 2023 features adult themes and language, and depictions of rape and violence. Reserve tickets on crowstheatre.com.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023
