Words, words, words: In Hamlet's response to Polonius' question "What do you read, my lord?" Shakespeare suggests that words are just a collection of symbols we use to translate our emotions and thoughts, but are perhaps meaningless in themselves.

It is ironic, coming from one of history's greatest wordsmiths, but in today's theatrical scheme, words can communicate and obfuscate at the same time.

This weekend, two plays - Boise Contemporary Theater's "God's Ear" and Alley Repertory Theater's "Burial at Thebes" - open in the Treasure Valley.

Both use language in innovative, lyrical and challenging ways. One reflects a cultural shift in theatrical production; the other a classical approach to poetry that distills clarity of meaning.

BOISE CONTEMPORARY THEATER

"And we'll all cross that bridge.And bridge that gap.And bear that cross.And cross that t."

MEL in "God's Ear."

Boise Contemporary Theater opens on Saturday, Oct. 11, with Jenny Schwartz's daring "God's Ear," a play that toys with language like a hyperactive child with a G.I. Joe.

At the center of the story are a couple struggling to understand the drowning death of their young son. Their loss extends to myriad characters collected along the way: friends, neighbors, strangers, the Tooth Fairy and G.I. Joe.

"It is a fantastical world. It's like going to another planet," says Patrick McNulty, who is in Boise from New York to direct the play.

The cast is about half from Boise Contemporary Theater's repertory company - Tracy Sunderland, Matthew Cameron Clark, Christopher Thometz and Lynn Allison - and half from New York City - Andrea Caban, Beau Baxter, Therese Barbato.

The language of the play helps create a dreamscape, where everyone is trying to connect but can't seem to find the words - or, more accurately, they find too many words. They speak in cliches, maxims, hyperbole and fragments.

"I think it's jarring when we realize we actually talk the way these characters talk," says Caban, who plays Lenora. "We don't listen to each other. We do repeat ourselves. Our thoughts shift, and there really is no reason why."

The idea that what is said on stage is not what a scene is about is not a new one new. But this play takes it to an extreme with a terse, doggerel economy of language that becomes a way of reaching out and a defense mechanism, says Baxter, who plays Guy (a guy in a bar).

"Rarely do we say what we really mean in life. It's more of an opportunity for an actor to play the inner life of a character. To punctuate the fact."

What comes out of the effort is a new poeticism, McNulty says.

ALLEY REPERTORY THEATER

"Whoever isn't for usIs against us in this case. Whoever breaks this law, I'll have them stoned to death."

ANTIGONE from "Burial at Thebes"

On the other end of the language spectrum is Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney's "Burial at Thebes," which opens at Alley Repertory Theater on Friday, Oct. 10.

Alley Rep is an ambitious new company making a bid to become the Valley's second professional contemporary theater. It makes its home at the Visual Arts Collective in Garden City.

"Thebes" is a new adaptation of Sophocles' "Antigone." In Greek mythology, Creon becomes king after Oedipus is banished. In the war that ensues, Antigone's two brothers are killed fighting on opposite sides. Creon gives a state burial to one, but leaves the other, Polyneices, as carrion.

Antigone takes up Polyneices' plight, setting in motion a tragedy that examines "the age-old debate that has existed since we've had democratic society," says Traven Rice, who is in Boise from New York to direct the play. "It's not clear-cut, and there is no black-and-white answer, and Seamus doesn't takes sides."

"Burial' is inspired by great Greek tragedies and, though set in 2008, uses their theatrical motifs, such as a chorus that observes the action and helps guide the audience through the story. Here they are cast as reporters.

Heaney's play is a contemporary lyric poem that uses form, verse and rhythm to relate character.

"The words just flow out, and you have to stay out of the way," says Hollis Welsh, who plays Antigone.

The play's language is one of economy, distilled to capture the core of its meaning, says Arthur Glen Hughes, who plays Creon.

"He focuses each word; there is nothing wasted," Hughes said.

Each character has his or her individual poetic form. For Creon, it is a very measured, iambic pentameter; Antigone's role is written in a variety of rhythms to reflect her emotional journey. As each character's position shifts in the play, so does his or her poetry.

"It's one of those layered texts that you will never get to the bottom of," Welsh said. "It keeps unfolding."