
She adapted the script (using two classic texts) in addition to directing. It's a difficult thing to make a Greek chorus seem anything but a tedious anachronism to a modern audience, but she pulls it off. WaPo calls her style "respectfully irreverent," and I guess that's fair, but I'd place the emphasis on the respect. She doesn't do what many contemporary adapters do: use the barest connection with the ancient text as a peg on which to hang every personal hang-up and ideology (There's a monster! It's a metaphor for Republican Presidents! And Religion! And my mother!). Instead, there's an evident love for the stories as they are, and Zimmerman lets them tell themselves --she's merely bringing them forward to our time a bit. It helps that the cast is clearly enjoying itself -- we did too. Now I have to find that old picture book.