Pants on Fire's Metamorphoses

Peter Bramley, artistic director of the London-based company Pants on Fire, was seemingly on solid ground when he decided to adapt Ovid's "Metamorphoses." After all, the Roman poet himself was adapting Greek and Roman mythology for the 15 books that make up his greatest work, published in the time of Christ. And while Ovid's multiple-god anthropomorphic theology may be long dated, his central thesis--that love and war are equal and require equal sacrifices--has proved durable enough over 21 centuries.

So Bramley's approach, using Ovid's classic characters and situations overlaid with a World War II British setting and costumes, is certainly valid. The execution of his design vision (he also directed) by myriad helpmates is both detailed and whimsical. The cast of seven, who triple and quadruple in characterizations and sing and play instruments, is exuberant and committed. Several of the set pieces in the 90-minute offering are truly inspired and hilarious: The jealous and vengeful chief goddess Juno (Jo Dockery) blinds Tiresias (Alex Packer) for daring to suggest that women get nine-tenths of the pleasure from sex. Jupiter (Jonathan Davenport) counters by giving Tiresias gifts of prophecy and insight (he predicts yet more war and chaos). Juno deprives Echo (Hannah Pierce) of original speech, banishing her to invisibility in a reverberating chasm. Io (Mabel Jones), a Jupiter tootsie, is turned into a cow, complete with gasmask snout and tin-can hooves. When Io is turned back into a woman, she still manages to moo and hoof it occasionally. Narcissus (Tom McCall) is a matinee idol both introduced and undone by a black-and-white movie trailer. Ariadne (Eloise Secker) temporarily turns into an island while singing "Am I Blue," backed up by two colorful and soulful fish puppets.

The puppets are the excellent work of Samuel Wyer, and Ralph Stokeld's lighting nicely separates the scenes. Davenport did the film projection and Packer the sound design. Other company members collaborated on the costumes and the 1940s period props.

Yet ultimately, this production, a hit at last summer's Edinburgh Festival now having its American premiere, is a series of short sketches that owes more to the "Carry On Nurse" strain of British humor than it does to classical mythology. Here, sex rather than love is equal to war. Ovid, who was bawdy and vividly specific about sex for his day (see his "Ars Amatoria" for lessons in lovemaking), probably had something a bit loftier in mind when it came to "Metamorphoses." After all, he insisted that he was only a poet and that everything he wrote was poetry. That's not always the best basis for theater.

Presented by the Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation and the Flea Theater at the Flea Theater, 41 White St., NYC. Jan. 9–30. Tue.–Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 7 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.theflea.org.