Between The Mysts
Credits

Between The Mysts
Adapted and Directed by Valerie Gramling

Camelot. The Knights of the Round Table. In a World of Men, One Woman Dares to Seize Power. Witch or Goddess? Betrayer or Savior? Morgan le Fay Explode the Myths. Discover the Woman

Her name is Morgan, and she has learned the uses of all plants in curing the ills of the body.
She knows, too, the art of changing her shape, of flying through the air, like Daedalus, on strange wings.
--Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Reviews

"It seems that Morgan le Fay, the sorceress and half-sister of King Arthur, has been upstaged for centuries by her male colleague Merlin. (He even got his own mini-series.) No more. The Gilgamesh Theatre Group has spun "Between the Mysts" around Morgan…Adapting a variety of sources, Valerie Gramling has created a spectacle in which Morgan's evil, though never disproved, is at least cast into doubt…"Between the Mysts" examines the versions of Morgan's life, often offering variations on the same scene. (Did she really plot Arthur's death?)…Wesley Stahler, an actress with flowing red hair, makes a convincing Morgan. The production unfolds in the Limelight, the church-turned-club, whose Gothic arches make a perfect setting. And although often repetitive, it is never dull, throwing in a video preshow, sword fights, large puppets, minstrel music and even an upstairs pilgrimage by the audience…as an introduction to a beguiling character -- a witch, no less -- it may lead theatergoers to fall under its spell."

-- The New York Times

Wesley Stahler as "Morgan le Fay" and Andrew Irons as "King Arthur" in Between the Mysts. Photo by Suzanne von Eck

"For an all-too-brief a run of eight performances in early November, Susan von Eck's adventurous Gilgamesh Theatre Group performed a revisionist vision of King Arthur's mysterious half-sister, Morgan le Fay. This was quite a contrast to Gilgamesh's hilarious and very stylish Theatre Row production of Mikhail Bulgakov's "Black Snow," adapted by Keith Reddin…. In the Post-Modernist but nonetheless spooky foyer of Limelight, a double column of TV monitors prepares spectators for the main-event. Initially, the effect is of a waterfall coursing down the screens. This videography has a name: "Behind the Mysts." Created by Jason Narvaez and scripted by Andrea Ryan, it is, in effect, a peek behind the scenes as the players explore the mysteries to be examined. The waterfall fades, replaced by the faces of the Gilgamesh girls. They pose questions about the Mysteries and Legends of Morgan le Fay.…Their tempestuous multi-media examination of the Morgan Myths is cast in the framework of an animated, acted-out debate about Morgan's true identity, character, intentions, and acts. In this production, the Modernist Minimalist Bottom-Line -- judging Morgan from our context, rather than from contexts of centuries of

superstition and ignorance -- seems to be that she was a brilliant, powerful, willful woman, in a time when there was no scope for such talents and ambitions.    One of the most interesting and ingratiating elements of "Between the Mysts" is Gilgamesh's ingenious use of mysterious and medieval puppets, created by Drama of Works."

-- Glenn Loney, New York Theatre Wire

Puppet Sketches for BETWEEN THE MYSTS by David Michael Friend

BETWEEN THE MYSTS was made possible in part with public funds from The Fund for Creative Communities/New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Beyond the Mysts
(The Video Preshow)
Video and editing by Jason Narvaez
Script by Andrea Ryan
This exhibit was made possible by a grant from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund with public funds from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs.