After Pants on Fire’s all-singing, all dancing Ovid’s Metamorphoses in March, it crossed my mind a classic retelling would seem a little staid. The initial indications of Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden’s performance did suggest this; two actors seated by a table of assorted bells and bowls with only the power of their voices and eerie musical noises to drive the show. I need not have worried, though, for as the tales began the skilful oratory of the pair soon lulled and captivated, pulling us deeply and convincingly into the world of the gods.
The tales covered well-trodden ground for the most part, Orpheus, Demeter and Persephone, Echo and Narcissus, and King Midas, of course. There was something authentic about this familiarity, though, as if we were closer to the ancient Greeks with their close knowledge, learnt at the mother’s knee, of their myths and hero tales. It felt as if the audience were in some way part of the performance, involved in the stories themselves through our previous encounters, building them in our minds as the plots progressed.
Commissioned by the Hay Festival, this is a masterful retelling of Greek myths, simple yet effective. Perhaps one fault that could be identified was the use of the bowls and bells to create strange noises to indicate the beginning and ending of tales, and to add tension at relevant moments. While it leant an air of New Ageism and mystery, I found the hums and ringing a little off-putting, distracting from the wonder of the tales. And what tales they are to be told. In sum Morden and Lupton showed off the power of oral story-telling to its best effect, providing a glimpse of the tradition shared by so many long lost cultures, including our own. 
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