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by Erin Shields, directed by Alan Dilworth

Groundwater Productions, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto

May 23, 2010

Erin Shields’ If We Were Birds is a rarity, a fully-fledged tragedy written in the 21st century.  It helps that she has chosen a subject from Greek mythology--the tale of Tereus, Procne and Philomela--that inspired the now-lost tragedy Tereus of Sophocles and the more gruesome scenes of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.  Alan Dilworth directs with potent theatrical minimalism and the production features two truly outstanding performances.

Of the many version of the Tereus story, Shields hews most closely to that found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.  As a reward for helping Athens, King Tereus of Thrace (Geoffrey Pounsett) marries Procne (Philippa Domville), the elder daughter of King Pandion of Athens (David Fox).  When Procne longs for her sister’s company, Tereus agrees to accompany Philomela (Tara Rosling) to Thrace.  As Shields portrays it, Tereus’ inherent male instinct for conquest that makes him a fierce soldier also drives him to rape Philomela.  When Philomela vows to proclaim his sin to all the world, he cuts out her tongue, hides her away and tells everyone she died on the voyage.  When Procne discovers the truth, she exacts a terrifying revenge.  

The play features a Greek chorus of five women, all victims of rape used as a means of political subjugation, whose individual stories range from Nanking in 1937 to Rwanda in 1994.  This gives the tragedy both a sense of timelessness and immediacy.  Shields’ attempts at Shakespeare-inspired comic relief works less well, such as the would-be comic messenger with the tapestry who speaks much but says little.  Dilworth creates spectacular effects simply with a large table and yards of cloth.  The unravelling of Philomela’s tapestry is stunning.  Yet, his demands that the chorus morph from women to birds and back are not necessary and not clearly executed.  It is impossible to say who, Domville or Rosling, gives the more hair-raising performance.  Both present the loss of innocence differently but with an equally frightening power.  Shields would like the imagery of flight to reflect the desire of only the abused women of the story, yet when when she must finally depict the gods’ strange metamorphosis into birds of Tereus along with the two sisters, she reveals this change not as an escape but an eternal punishment.  Male aggression is troubling, but worse is the gods’ chilling inability to distinguish villain from victim.  

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-04-23.

Photo: Shannon Perrault, Karen Robinson, Philippa Domville, Tara Rosling, Barbara Gordon, Daniela Lama.  ©Cylla von Tiedemann.