Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin, September 2003; Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, 2007).
Retells the myth of Orpheus from the perspective of Eurydice, his wife.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice_(Ruhl_play)
Lexi Sekuless Productions at Mill Theatre, Dairy Road, Canberra. November 20 – December 14, 2024.
Reviewed by Frank McKone
Opening Night November 27
Cast
Eurydice: Alana Denham-Preston; Orpheus: Blue Hyslop
Her Father: Timmy Sekuless;
A Nasty Interesting Man/The Lord of the Underworld: Michael Cooper
A Chorus of Stones: Heidi Silberman, Sarah Hull, Sarah Nathan-Truesdale
Contingency: Rhys Hekimian, Michelle Norris
Production Team
Writer: Sarah Ruhl Director: Amy Kowalczuk
Movement Director: Michelle Norris; Costume Designer: Leah Ridley
Set Design and Construction: Simon Grist; Scenic Painting: Letitia Stewart
Lighting Designer: Jennifer Wright
Guitar, Vocalist and Arranger: Eleanna Stavrianoudaki with sound effects licensed via Artlist.
Production Stage Manager: Lexi Sekuless
Production team support: Mark Lee, Andrew Snell, Zeke Chalmers, Jaben Leadbetter
Photographer: Daniel Abroguena
Producer: Lexi Sekuless Productions Major partner: Elite Event Technology
Principal Sponsor: Willard Public Affairs
Eurydice is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
The navy curtain installed for this show is known as the Kershaw Curtain.
Carla Bruni wedding song licensed by APRA
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In
a world in which privacy has become such a big issue, I felt quite
embarrassed, in the tiny Mill Theatre, watching almost within touching
distance Eurydice and Orpheus enjoying such physical intimacy, in casual
clothing prior to their more formal wear for their wedding.
Bringing
an ancient Greek story into our personal experience is the point of the
play, so we can accept the theatrical illusion of the two worlds – Life
and Death – as reality for Eurydice, her father and her husband.
The
directing of the acting and movement, in the context of a simple yet
ingenious set design on two levels, and with lighting and sound cues as
the action shifts from one to the other, is highly successful.
The
choreography for the three women in the dead world – who are like the
Furies would be in the living world, except that here they are the
Stones enforcing the rules about what is not allowed – is especially
well done. I’ve met some people in my real world very much like them!
As
a comparison and contrast with Blue Hyslop’s genuine musical Orpheus,
Michael Cooper’s mealy-mouthed manipulative controlling Nasty
Interesting Man is awful to see. Alana Denham-Preston’s Eurydice is
fearfully trapped, and escapes only to her death. We see stories like
this daily on the news.
So this production of Eurydice
is highly recommmended, not only for the quality of its performance,
but also for the choice of an interesting and important take on the
ancient Greek story of the man’s frustration – when he sadly cannot look
back – now seen from the woman’s point of view, when she desperately
cannot call him back.
Conventionally it’s a sad love story, but
Sarah Ruhl’s version makes it a deeper consideration of life as a
tragedy for love when one partner is suddenly dead. In the modern world
(and I guess equally in the Ancient Greek world), death is even more
tragic when it is deliberately dealt out by other people.
After seeing Eurydice, to follow up the Ancient Greece connection, you should read the three novels by Pat Barker. In The Trojan Women, The Silence of the Girls and The Voyage Home,
seeing Greek history/myth from the women’s point of view is essential
reading on sexual and political relations in Western culture to build on
Sarah Ruhl’s dramatic work.
Not to be missed.
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| Blue Hyslop and Alana Denham-Preston as Orpheus and Eurydice Mill Theatre 2024 |
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| Timmy Sekuless and Alana Denham-Preston as Her Father and Eurydice facing The Stones Mill Theatre 2024 |
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| Heidi Silberman, Sarah Hull, Sarah Nathan-Truesdale (not necessarily L-R) as The Stones Mill Theatre 2024 |
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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