Amphitryon {20/20}

The PVD Fringe went virtual. The first incarnation of Amphitryon 20/20 was born on the web. In a crash course on playing with the internet without crashing our computer, we created a new version of this ancient play that took (/takes?) place on Zoom, Instagram, Gchat, and Google Slides, and included a bunch of original bops just to make sure we had to deal with the ineffable mysteries of recording music over the internet

The myth of Amphitryon tells the story of how Hercules came to be. In the traditional story, made famous through plays by Plautus, Molière, Heinrich von Kleist, and Jean Giradoux, Jupiter (the god) tricks the beautiful Alcmene into sleeping with him by disguising himself as Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon. As the title suggests, these plays are largely about Amphitryon: his jealousy, his outrage, and his struggle to reconcile himself with the question of whether his wife, by sleeping with an perfect image of himself, really cheated on him at all, or whether she remained “virtuous.”

Amphytrion 20/20 takes a different tack, exploring the possibilities of socially distanced love taking “place” via the internet of things through a queer love triangle featuring General Amphitryon, Alcmene, and a deity who may in fact be “The Cloud” themself. Of course, we also made room for the play’s most famous character: the bumbling, self-important Sosie, now bringing his communication consultancy to a open tab near you.

Amphitryon 20/20

Starring:

Charlotte Hacke as Amphitryon/Jupiter
Sherry Romanzi as Alcmene
Brien Lang as Sosie/Mercury
Clare Blackmer as Cleanthe

With original music by Matt Requintina, Matthew Haronian, Sherry Romanzi, Brien Lang, and yours truly, dan j ruppel.

See the original “stage” here: http://fringepvd.org/amphytrion-2020.html

FULL SOUNDTRACK OUT SOON!