The Green Bird

Written by Carlo Gozzi

Directed by Elizabeth Carlin-Metz

Repertory Term XVI

From the world of commedia dell’arte, Gozzi fashions his fiaba–the fairy tale. A wicked queen, a foolish king, an imprisoned queen, twin babies spirited out of the castle and the clutches of the murderous queen, the kindly sausage seller and his wife, animals and statues come to life, singing fruit, and a musical fountain turn philosophy on its head and take an amused, and sometimes scathing, look at humanity. Despite creating a world of improvised zaniness, magical transformation, and delightful illusion, there lies beneath the mockery and ribaldry a dizzying tension between order and disorder, where the rules of the game may just be utterly unreliable.