As many of you know, Daedalus was one of the great architects of Greek mythology. He fashioned a disguise for Pasiphae to seduce Zeus (when he turned himself into a white bull) the labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur, and wings that would let he and his son, Icarus soar. Knowing Icarus would be tempted, Daedalus warns him against flying too close to the sun, lest it melt the wax that held the wings together. Enthralled by the experience, Icarus forgets, plummets into the ocean, and drowns.
Created by Becca Johnson-Spinos, Logan Beutel (Daedalus) and Dylan Weand (Icarus) Dreams of Icarus takes the mythological premise and runs with it, after making Icarus and Daedalus brothers, instead of son and father. Loosely speaking, Daedalus is the practical engineer, while Icarus is the visionary and storyteller. When Dreams of Icarus opens the two brothers have been imprisoned in a steep tower until Daedalus agrees to do the King’s bidding. During their confinement they process many unresolved conflicts from their personal history. They love each other fiercely, and perhaps too often, clobber each other when they disagree. They struggle to work out an escape, the theoretical promise of wings looming just beyond their reach. They need each other, more than they know.
Never in my experience as a theatre critic have I found another company to compare with Outcry, and their brilliance at finding the intersection of the ethereal, the dazzling, the visceral, the terrifying, the enraged and the sublime. Becca Johnson-Spinos has found a way to create a hybrid between choreography and stage movement that is captivating and rich. Dreams of Icarus doesn’t only explore the poignant attachment between Daedalus and Icarus, but all brothers, with all the tumultuous, kinetic, vibrant capaciousness of powerful emotion. The monologues are intuitive, oracular, fanciful, yet (forgive the expression) “grounded” in human experience. You can feel the brothers groping to articulate the nebulous, elusive revelations that we all ache to put into words, but the result here is transformative.
At the outset, I was a bit muddled by some of the liberties taken, but once I gave myself permission to set those aside, I was overcome by the audacity and palpable sense of the metaphysical this astonishing show attained. Somehow Dreams of Icarus weaves together myriad associations with flight: soaring, swooning, ecstasy, defiance, bravado, unfettered joy.
Special note must be taken of Gabrielle Grafrath’s remarkable wings, crucial to the success of this piece. Ms. Grafrath conceived them flawlessly, depicting them as something utilitarian, canny, but also giddy with fluffy feathers, just right to take us second star to the right and straight on till morning.
Of course any play is a group effort, but how did team Outcry come up with this improbable marvel? Years ago a movie was released called My Dinner with Andre and before you drove to the show, you thought: “How? How, how, how, how, how?” Almost two hours of searching conversation? How can it possibly work? And yet, Dreams of Icarus, like My Dinner, trusts its impulses. It not only evinces this dream of flight, but takes us along for the glorious ride.
Outcry Theatre’s Dreams of Icarus played December 20th-29th, 2019. 972-836-9206. outcrytheatre.com