Deep Into ‘Twilight’

Archetypal resonances run deep in “Twilight World,” the latest tapestry of mythologically themed theater, music and dance from Stephen Legawiec’s Ziggurat Theatre.

Through a trio of related but stylistically distinct hourlong plays, writer-director-composer Legawiec weaves a lengthy but imaginatively and beautifully staged epic, drawing from the Greek myth of Tereus and his wife, Procne.

Tereus, you’ll recall, was the Thracian king whose monstrous treatment of Procne’s sister begat one of those bloody revenge dramas that were the Greeks’ forte.

Though Legawiec’s considerable liberties with the story might raise eyebrows among Procne purists, he injects a rich psychological subtext into these iconic figures.

In the first playlet, Tereus (Luis Zambrano) infiltrates a rival kingdom to avenge the killing of his wife and child by King Pandion (Michael Krawic).

Disguised as an astrologer, he meets and exploits Pandion’s innocent daughter Phila (Dana Wieluns) to gain access to his enemy. After the murder, he ravages Phila and cuts out her tongue to cover the crime.

Though the characters are sketched in the boldly generic strokes of classical Greek drama (complete with Chorus wearing forbidding masks), elements of self-awareness in Tereus are reminiscent of the vacillating Hamlet and “King Lear’s” opportunistic Edmund.

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Picking up the thread 10 years later, the second play opens with Tereus a contented husband to Procne (Marianna Harris) and father to 10-year-old Itys (Ivo and Derek Delgado share the role). In contrast to the somber world of the first play, their idyllic life is painted in light, golden hues.

Despite a livelier Chorus’ warning that some doors should remain closed, Procne examines a pictorial tapestry and learns the truth about her husband’s crime and that his victim is her long-lost sister. To punish Tereus, she kills her own child.

The final chapter contains the plot’s most radical departures, set another decade later on a remote island where a wandering Procne has come to seek an oracle’s counsel. Cast in hues of meditative blue, this highly introspective segment focuses on the tragedy’s psychological consequences.

Using a Chorus mutated into a vaudevillian troupe to great comic effect, Legawiec injects a ribald tale narrated by a witty Shakespearean-style Player (Catherine Bell).

Where Ovid’s version of Greek myth ended with the three principals being transformed into birds, “Twilight World” offers a more humanistic metamorphosis--a reconciliation of sorts between Procne and Tereus, as well as a happy reunion between the long-lost sisters.

Not a classical resolution, but the play’s cautionary message is uncompromised--that evil can only be judged and forgiven by those who can see past the surface into dark deeds.

BE THERE

“Twilight World,” Gascon Center Theater, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. Ends June 25. $15-$20. (323) 655-8587. Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.