Persephone

This one-act comedy retells the myth in which Hades, god of death, kidnaps Persephone, goddess of life and spring. But while Persephone is usually presented as the sad-eyed queen of the underworld, here she is a happy breath of spring that makes life glitter wherever she is—even in Hades. Her conflict with the dead, who are trying their best to rest in peace, makes one of the most imaginative as well as meaningful literary works of the decade. In Greek mythology, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter (Mother Earth), bit into a forbidden pomegranate and was sentenced to spend a month in the underworld for each of the six seeds she swallowed. That's why Earth has six months of bad weather (Demeter is crying for her daughter) and six months of happy, bright spring and summer. But according to this dramatization, when Persephone descended into Hades, she took along a happy breath of spring that made life glitter in the dark underworld. Some of the dead don't like the glitter. But the irresistible charm of Persephone infects even the darkly handsome King of the Dead and the crotchety old ferryman, Charon. A romantic comedy, the play visualizes the havoc that youthful innocence can create in the somber world of harsh realities. In addition to the comic conflicts surrounding the situation, however, there is a deeper theme of the relation of life and death. The myth presents Persephone, as life, mated to Hades, as death. This coupling is significant, since life and death are in fact inseparable, inevitably linked together. In this insoluble link there is also a hint of the nature of real love.