MIRROR OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD | GOODMAN THEATRE
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Unlike previous Zimmerman works like the riveting Argonautika, produced by Lookingglass last fall, and her legendary swimming-pool staging of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (first performed in 1998), Mirror of the Invisible World doesn’t rely on the Western canon. First produced in 1997 at the old Goodman Studio Theatre, Zimmerman’s adaptation is based on a section of the Haft Paykar, a 12th-century romantic epic by the poet Nizami, who lived in the Persian empire in what is now Azerbaijan. (His nickname was “Mirror of the Invisible World.”) The epic, originally titled “Seven Images” or “Seven Beauties,” tells of the seven wives of King Bahram, all from a different kingdoms. As each spends a night with him he pleads to be entertained with a story, and each unfolds a strange tale leavened with lessons about love, forgiveness, generosity, and courage. With its Eastern roots and ornate language, the play feels close in spirit (and length) to Zimmerman’s Journey to the West, based on a Chinese legend.
The play demands careful listening. The tales told by these variations on Scheherazade have multiple layers of narrative and meaning, particularly the first one, delivered by the Indian princess. In this story a young prince, hungry like King Bahram for the tales of others, embarks on a trip to understand why one of his visitors is always shrouded in black. Here the narrative perspective shifts from the princess to a servant of the prince to the prince himself. As each wife’s story concludes, a colored dome on an onstage model of a Persian palace lights up–and since this is the darkest of the tales, the black dome achieves only a faint glow.
An onstage trio of musicians adds rich texture, and Daniel Ostling’s soaring arched set is complemented beautifully by John Culbert’s lush lighting, which brings out the finer shades of the color for each story. Those willing to enter the play’s world with an open heart, like that of King Bahram, should find many pleasures and some felicitous bits of wisdom.
