Among theater buffs, Midwest-based Mary Zimmerman has long had a glowing reputation, but her works are not often seen here. Syracuse University Drama Department produced her Aladdin in February 2008, and the Redhouse Arts Center gave us her poolside Metamorphoses outdoors in summer 2011. Now director Stephen Svoboda has revived that production indoors (through May 17), with dancers flown in from California and, yes, an indoor wading pool constructed by Tim Brown right on the less-than-capacious stage. Gods and heroes might have misbehaved in ancient mythology, but they all move on squeaky-clean feet.
Once the audience sees the action staged in and around the pool (on a planked runway), we understand the water is more than a gimmick. Its function keeps changing. It might be the Underworld, the River Styx, the sea, or, as it appears to be, a pool. Then again, mythic stories, even when they are so accessible that a child can perceive them, are also literature of the unconscious mind.
