Grey Gold is an immersive movement and rock show, exploring a new take on this classic Greek myth through rock music, stylized character development and movement, and an imaginative use of the performance space and environmental theatre principles.
“It’s a terrific show and work of art and of love. Many accolades to Myrrh Larsen and all of the performers & musicians.”
“We really were impressed with last night’s show….can’t wait to see it [again] tonight.”
“Bear in mind, this isn’t just a tight, very well rehearsed concert. This is another world. Give into the spell.”
—Oregon Arts Watch
This song cycle is an adaptation of the Greek myth in which Hades, the god of death and the underworld, falls in love with Persephone, the goddess of life and nature. As with all magical places, if you eat the food or drink of the underworld, you must never leave. In most versions of the story, Persephone is tricked or seduced into tasting a few seeds of pomegranate, the fruit of the underworld. Her mother, Demeter, goddess of the harvest, appeals to Zeus, the ruler of the gods, and a deal is struck: Persephone will spend a portion of the year below—during which crops wither and die—and part of the year on earth. Her return coincides with the spring, and thus the seasons.
But in the later myths, Persephone spends her time in the underworld as its willing queen. Our ensemble set out to explore the ways that both characters can claim agency in their story, asking: What if they really do fall in love; and what if they both know the stakes: if Hades risks his kingdom and refuge for love, and if Persephone knows exactly what is being offered when she accepts? How do two gods, each powerful in their own right, learn to retain their own power and identity while accepting someone else into their world? Building a stable relationship means finding a balance beween the time you spend together and apart, between codependence and detachedness, while avoiding the treacherous gravity of either extreme.
Love is something that grows between people. And it’s also death, in a way: the death of the self, and its rebirth as something new and ever-changing. But love doesn’t need to diminish someone else in order to make us whole, and if two ancient beings from literally different worlds can learn that, then, just maybe, so can we.