Capital Fringe Review: ‘We Tiresias’ by Anne Tsang


We Tiresias, written by Stephen Spotswood and directed by Matt Ripa, is based on the Greek myth of Tiresias, a blind prophet ofT hebes, renowned for his clairvoyance. The story of Tiresias is told through his three forms – the boy (Chris Stinson) representing Tiresias as a youth, the woman (Melissa Marie Hmelnicky) representing the time when Tiresias is transformed into a woman, and the old man (Steve Beall) representing the wise and bitter Tiresias of later years.

As a young boy, Tiresias reveals to his mother that he is clairvoyant. She begs him to keep it a secret because she is worried for his safety and he does until he is a young man and his abilities causes the death of his first love -a priestess marked to serve the God Hera – and forces him to flee his home and his mother. Hera finally catches up with him, and in anger for his defiling of her priestess and his unnatural abilities, turns him into a woman. The transformed Tiresias eventually becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl, Manto. One tragic night, Manto is snatched away from Tiresias who begins and epic journey to find Manto.

I really enjoyed the varied perspectives provided by the boy, the woman, and the old man. Stinson, Hmelnicky, and Beall do an excellent job of drawing the audience into the story and the show does an excellent job of weaving together Tiresias’s story with various Greek tragedies, including Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.

If you’re looking for 70-minutes of great storytelling filled with humor, true love, gods, prophets, tragedy, gouged eyes go see We Tiresias.

LINK

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

 

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Anne Tsang
Anne is a self proclaimed theater nut and lover of live music. She once spent 8 hours, non-stop, at a theater festival. watching a series of plays--you have to be a nut to be able to do that! Anne's first love in theater are Broadway musicals and she has an uncanny luck in winning lottery tickets for the shows! Anne also loves all forms of live music and is always amazed and touched by the energy of a great show. Anne also loves to travel and is fascinated by food and often combines the loves in her life--theater, music, food--with travel to new destinations and has been to performance venues around the world. What better way to share her enthusiasm and love for all things theater and music than to write for DCMetroTheaterArts? She can't wait to start sharing her observations with you!

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