Be A Wolf

Ask any beat cop or ex-boyfriend -- no two people view the same event identically. Add a few years and you'll get a few more versions of the story. So what of a tale that has been told and retold for more than a thousand years? Academics have pored over Beowulf since it was written down. Some claim that Grendel was descended from Cain and all 3,183 lines are Christian in origin and pagan only in context; others have said that's hogwash, twaddle, clap, and trap, and the poem was clearly passed down through recitation using oral-formulaic composition. In any case, there's a lot of wiggle room, which will be wiggled in by Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, a song-play written by the singular Jason Craig of Banana Bag & Bodice. This is the same mind that gave us a heart-rending musical based on a sandwich and a blood-thirsty cat, and an apocalyptic love story set in a sewer. The cast includes BB&B co-founder Jessica Jelliffe and members of the Shotgun Players, with a live band led by BB&B composer Dave Malloy (you may remember him as the shaggy buffalo behind the keys in Sandwich).
May 18-June 22, 5 p.m., 2008