The Terrible Head

Playwright, director and choreographer Boyer remarks in his program notes that the seed for The Terrible Head was planted seven years ago, when he first read 19th-century Scotsman Andrew Lang’s fairy-tale version of the myth of Perseus (the Medusa slayer). But Boyer’s free adaptation of a free adaptation indicates that even seven years may have been too short a gestation period.

In Boyer’s telling, the protagonist is a nameless boy whose mother is romantically pursued by an evil king. The king consults a mystical prophet for advice, but the prophet has its own motives for sending the boy on a hero’s journey to retrieve the titular item. Mythic Proportions’ inaugural production is billed as “a dance-play adaptation of the Perseus myth,” and it’s in the dance sequences that Boyer’s work is strongest; in a Mary Zimmerman–on-a-budget sense, he creates some arresting visual imagery. But the play suffers in the writing, both in its haphazard plotting—the king’s excuse for banishing the boy is also a jarringly out-of-place commentary on music copyright—and its drudging dialogue. In the omniscient prophet’s admonitions to the boy about resorting to unseemly tactics like torture and hostage-taking, Boyer suggests parallels to current politics but doesn’t quite close the deal.

If, like most myths and fairy tales, this is meant to have a moral, it’s muddled at best. The cast members, meanwhile, have clearly been chosen for their movement skills and not their acting acumen. Boyer’s choreography indicates he’s a talent to watch; unfortunately, this isn’t the play in which to watch it.