A trinket salesman enters and becomes a storyteller who reappears throughout the drama. Each of the plays is named for a character the more famous being Odysseus, Helen, and Cassandra. As spectacular as the sets and costumes are, the emphasis is on Barton s text, written in verse with lean, contemporary language and filled with wit. Key characters have thoughtful, penetrating monologues, but any seriousness is soon undercut by tart reality or stinging paradox. Characters, drenched in blood, return to tell their tale.
Masks suggest mystery and ambiguity and lend the work an eerie, timeless effect.
I wasn t sure the masks were necessary at all until two characters remove each other s masks in a scene late in the cycle. The meaning of that exchange was all the more powerful because masks are otherwise worn throughout. Choreographer McKayle employs a movement vocabulary that ranges from naturalistic to highly symbolic. The mix never seems forced and works its magic as effortlessly as Sands music, an international blend of Greek chants, Near Eastern rhythms, and crisp Western militarism. The acting is first-rate.