On Stage: Eurydice

Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s adaption of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice  illustrates the company’s philosophy of contemporising classical stories and often presenting these stories from a female perspective.

Unlike the original Greek myth, Ruhl’s take on the story of lovers Eurydice and Orpheus highlights Eurydice’s thoughts and actions.

As director Gary Abrahams explains: “Traditionally, the myth privileges Orpheus — the grieving musician descending into the Underworld to reclaim his lost bride. Eurydice herself is often little more than an object of longing, silent and idealised.

“Ruhl radically re-centres the story. Here, Eurydice becomes not merely the beloved who is lost, but the central figure of the story: intelligent, uncertain, sensuous, frightened, curious. A young woman pulled between worlds — between romance and family, eros and memory, future and past.

“When Sarah Ruhl wrote this play, she was not simply adapting a Greek myth. She was writing a love letter to her father after his death — constructing through theatre a conversation she could no longer have in life. That knowledge changes everything about Ruhl’s play. The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice remains its skeleton, but its heartbeat is elsewhere. Beneath the poetry, the wit, the dream logic and theatrical invention, lives a daughter’s grief.

“Its central thesis asks ‘What are people?’ It suggests that ‘people’ are made up of stories, memories, experiences. We are made of all that we have lived.

“Eurydice is not just a love story, but a deeply moving exploration of the bond between a daughter and her father, a tender and unexpected lens on grief, memory and what we choose to hold onto.”

In keeping with the contemporary feel of the play when we first meet the young and very attractive Eurydice (Aisha Aidara) and Orpheus (Tomáš Kantor) in their bedroom it’s clear they are very much in lust and seemingly in love. But as the conversation between the two reveals not all is perfect. He is a musician who is totally devoted to music and everything about it. Eurydice on the other hand isn’t particularly musical but totally into books, something Orpheus finds hard to accept.

At the same time Eurydice’s father (John Voce), who has recently died, is missing his beloved daughter and writes to her daily.

On discovering his letters Lord of the Underworld (Devon Braithwaite) uses them as a way of ensuring Eurydice dies and enters his Underworld.

What follows is Eurydice’s reconnection with her father, her interactions with the Lord of the Underworld, and the Stones (Joshua Gordon, Fran Sweeney Nash and Miles Paras). At the same time Orpheus is doing all he can through his music to enter the underworld to bring Eurydice back to him and the land of living.

The production gives all actors a chance to shine, Aidara’s Eurydice expertly brings to life a range of emotions – from confidence and joyfulness to uncertainty and unhappiness.  Given the emphasis on music in the production Kantor has the chance to shine musically while Voce is totally believable as a grief-stricken father.

Braithwaite’s King of the Underworld is at times menacing and frightening but also at times very funny.  The three ‘stones’ ideally demonstrate the dark and depressing underworld but at the same time get the opportunity to show their musical abilities.

They also expertly ‘wrap the set’ in large plastic sheets which are cleverly used to separate the land of the living from the underworld.

While this production could confuse those who have some knowledge of the original Greek myth, like all Melbourne Shakespeare Company shows it illustrates the willingness of the company to highlight local talent and to provide shows which are innovative and relatable to a younger audience.

Eurydice is playing fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, until Sunday June 14. For further information and tickets visit the Melbourne Shakespeare Company website.

*Photo credit: : Nick Mick Pics

Jenny Burns attended the June 10 show as a guest of the production company.

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