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A mythic love triangle

Lavish costumes and elaborate stage sets promise to make Amphitryon "an extraordinary visual spectacle, almost like seeing an opera," says Scott Edmiston, literary and artistic associate for the Huntington Theatre Company.

The plot is based on an ancient Roman myth in which Jupiter, king of the gods, falls in love with the beautiful Alcmena, wife of Theban general Amphitryon. As the victorious general is on his way home from battle, Jupiter disguises himself as Amphitryon in order to bed Alcmena, while Mercury aids in the deception by assuming the likeness of Amphitryon's servant.

The comedy builds as the real general arrives, husband and wife argue, and Amphitryon confronts his impostor.

Molière's Amphitryon has been translated into English numerous times. The Huntington production is the New England premiere of a 1995 translation by Pulitzer prize- winning poet Richard Wilbur.

Playwrights have been adapting the Amphitryon myth for the stage for centuries. Plautus (254-184 b.c.) wrote the earliest known version, Amphituo. Many centuries later, Shakespeare borrowed heavily from Plautus for The Comedy of Errors. Molière's Amphitryon was first produced by his own theater company in 1668, during the reign of King Louis XIV, and there is speculation that the Jupiter character is modeled after the Sun King.

The myth has inspired many other productions, including Cole Porter's 1950 Broadway musical Out of This World and a dance version at Radio City Music Hall.

Director Darko Tresnjak describes Amphitryon as "a comedy about various levels of servitude hidden in an aura of fantasy."

"There is this pecking order," he says, "not only in the world of the mortals, but also in the world of the gods. So I clearly saw these four levels: the human servants, the human masters, Mercury, the servant god, and Jupiter."

Scenic designer David Gordon, who has collaborated with Tresnjak on six operas and plays, says the stage set reflects this hierarchy.

"The gods feel that they can just come down to earth and meddle in the lives of these poor mortals, and the mortals also have their own class system, in which they feel they can do whatever they want with their servants," he says. "We have tried to do that literally, with the gods living on top in the clouds of a golden world, and the middle area being the earth -- which is architectural and still a little grand -- and below that the world of the servants, which is literally going into the floor.

"So you have this very classical class system on stage, and all the classes interact in various ways. We tried to create a very physical set to show that."

9 March 2001
Boston University
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