Word: mortalism
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There’s nothing inherently modern about John Eccles “Semele.” Written at the beginning of the 18th century, the Baroque opera narrates an Ancient Greek myth about a mortal protagonist whose jealousy for her divine lover costs her her life. But Harvard Early Music Society’s production of “Semele,” which ran this past weekend at the New College Theatre, manages to spruce up the antiquated setting quite a bit, perhaps predictably arranging the action in America’s own period of mythical free love...
...after the best friends attend a freak show, steal a rare and deadly spider, and run away from home, they become mortal enemies and join the long dormant war between the good and evil vampire sects: the Vampires and the Vampaneze. Darren casts off his Sperry topsiders in exchange for a red leather jacket, joins the freak show, and meets the inevitable circus love interest. While Darren woos his half-monkey, half-frumpy high-school freakheart, Steve joins the dark side and starts killing former teachers. When their final dramatic confrontation takes place, Steve explains to Darren with comic seriousness...
...erthrown, / And what strenth I have’s mine own, / Which is most faint…” Prospero opens his epilogue to “The Tempest” with strange and wistful words: his spells are breaking even as he speaks; his return to the mortal world—and to a death that, though outside the comedy’s arc, feels eerily close—is imminent. But Shakespeare’s final play is too full, quakes with too much wonder and life to fall beneath the long shadow of its author?...
...original story of Semele, which William Congreve adapted for his libretto, is a oft-told tale. The titular mortal protagonist falls in love with Jupiter, king of the gods. They have an affair, but when Jupiter’s jealous wife Juno finds out, she swears revenge. Furious, Juno disguises herself as a mortal and appears to Semele, convincing the poor girl to question Jupiter’s immortality. Semele, unaware that the sight of Jupiter in all his divine glory is fatal, demands to see him as a god. He begs her not to, but she stands firm...
...terms of set design and staging, Crutchfield achieves the feeling of the 1970s through what she terms “fantastically ugly furniture” and “fabulous patterns.” This, however, is only true of the mortal realm; the gods reside in the baroque period. This contrast sets up what Crutchfield calls a “war of patterns”—a battle between the wallpapers and fabrics of the two eras that becomes a major aesthetic element of the performance...