The Cyclops

By Bradley Morris, Urban Tulsa

Ever the Puck of the Tulsa theater world, The Nightingale Theater’s Midwestern Theatre Company presents Euripides’ The Cyclops with a twist. Telling a tale of Odysseus’ run-in with Polyphemus that isn’t in The Odyssey, Euripides’ play is the only satyr play — burlesque-style shows based on Greek myths and full of drunkenness, sex, and general wackiness — to survive the ancient era.

Given the prankish nature of the plays, Euripides would likely be proud of this incarnation, as it’s told via the shadow puppetry of John Cruncleton and his partners in crime. When you read “shadow puppetry,” if you think “making your hand cast a shadow that looks like a bird,” you’re way off. Cruncleton creates the most intricate shadow puppets you can imagine, even creating puppets in the past with moving parts and those that require multiple puppeteers in order to function.

The show runs September 6-7,13-14, and 20-21 at the Nightingale — 1416 E. 4th St. — at 8pm. Tickets are $10 at the door.