奧維德《變形記》中除了「變形」之情節體現了「流動」，其不斷變換的敘事方式及敘事者也在形式上完成了流動。《變形之書》欲善用劇場中種種與表演及舞台有關的特質，以流動的敘事呈現各變形神話。在故事中述說著故事，與《一千零一夜》及《十日談》之結構同理，其間的動力是為了「延長」，以虛構強行延長終結的到來。

劇本中的肢體和語言採賦格形式，兩者間存在著時間差以及不完全直接的意義指涉，產生互文。在變形的故事中，人類有可能變成植物、動物或昆蟲，這也反映著人類對於其他生命存有形式的無止盡好奇。這股力量可能來自憐憫、懲罰或是對於未知境地（例如死亡）的恐懼。是什麼樣的原因使得人無法以人類的型態存續？各個變形故事中皆給出了隱喻般的答案。劇中有一角色為人工智能，又被命名為「皮諾丘」，他是變形的逆向通道，由非人的存在被塑造為「人類般」的存在；由他作為故事的接收者，意義的傳遞及其方式不再單一。

劇中角色被包裹在將睡未睡的時光中，在沙灘上等候午後對流雨的到來。為了讓或許不需睡眠的人工智能順利午睡，另一人講起了一連串相扣的故事。而當故事說完時，雨正好下了下來。

Ovid’s Metamorphoses embodies fluidity not only in its plots of “metamorphosis,” but also through its constant shifting in narration and narrators. Book of Metamorphosis seeks to make use of various qualities of performance and stagecraft in order to present different metamorphosis myths through a fluid narration. Telling stories within stories, its structure resembles that of One Thousand and One Nights and The Decameron, driven by a shared impulse toward “extension,” using fiction to forcibly postpone the arrival of an ending. 

The script treats body and language in a fugal manner: there is time difference and not entirely direct references in meanings, generating a web of intertextuality. In tales of metamorphosis, humans may become plants, animals, or insects, reflecting an endless curiosity about other forms of lives. This force may arise from pity, punishment, or fear of unknown realms such as death. What is it that makes a person unable to continue existing in human form? Each metamorphosis story offers a metaphorical answer. One character in the play is an artificial intelligence named “Pinocchio,” who functions as a reverse passage of metamorphosis: a non-human entity shaped into a “human-like” being. With this AI as the receiver of stories, the transmission of meaning, and the ways it can be carried, are no longer singular.

The characters in the play are wrapped in a time between sleeping and waking, waiting on a beach for the afternoon rain to arrive. In order to help an artificial intelligence that perhaps does not need sleep to take a proper nap, another person begins to tell a chain of stories. Just as the final story ends, the rain begins to fall.

國藝會文學類常態補助           

Literature Grants, National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF)