Poetry slithers across the stage and back.
Snakes become women. Women have super powers.
And the holy man? He’s not so holy after all.
The Rogue Theatre’s production of Mary Zimmerman’s “The White Snake” is a breathtakingly beautiful production of a Chinese fable that speaks to the power of love.
It is also a testament to theatrical storytelling. When it rains, strips of blue silk drop out of the sky. A backlit parasol slowly carried across the stage is the rising and setting moon. The snakes are puppets — when they aren’t women — and a long stick is an oar, a counter, a boat.
Visually, “The White Snake” shimmers.
Which would be fine in itself, but this production is more thanks to a cast that embraces the magic and the story.
“The White Snake” is an ancient Chinese legend about a wise snake who takes the shape of a woman for a day. As fate would have it, it is that day she meets and falls in love with a young man. A monk recognizes the snake in her and is pretty grossed out at the inter-species coupling, and so he fights to save the young man, who has yet to know his love’s true identity.
The play oozes magic, and director Cynthia Meier had no trouble performing it. She choreographed a play that used imagination and stellar actors to bring an old tale to vivid life.
Zimmerman infused the story with plenty of humor, but the heart of the story is solemn and dramatic: When real love exists, false fronts are foolish.
Meier’s cast embraced every lavish, luscious bit of the play. Patty Gallagher took on the role of the White Snake with a grace and determination that gave the character full breath. Holly Griffith grabbed many of the humor lines as White Snake’s companion, Green Snake, who is many hundred years younger than her friend. Griffith gave the character a perfect impetuousness.
White Snake’s love interest, Xu Xian, had depth and sensitivity in Ryan Parker Knox’s hands. And David Weynand, as Fa Hai, the hell-bent-for-destruction monk, was scary in his ferociousness and funny in his actions. He was a joy.
As was the whole ensemble, which worked Matt Cotten’s puppets, danced, sang and took the audience along on this fairy tale.
Meier not only directed, she designed the mostly-silk costumes, which floated across the stage with color and movement, giving even more life to the story.
“The White Snake” is pure, magical joy. It’s poetry. And is what we need about now.
