A Modern Version of a Familiar Myth

Eurydice

Writers Theatre opens their new season with Sarah Ruhl’s modern version of the familiar Greek myth of Orpheus in the Underworld. Growing up in the far Northern suburb of Wilmette, Ms. Ruhl wrote this very personal one-act as a tribute to her dear father, who had recently passed away from cancer. She recalled that her dad used to take Sarah and her older sister to Walker Brothers Original Pancake House every Saturday. While there he would introduce his daughters to a new word or two. Some of the words he taught Sarah would later became a part of her play.

In the original Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the young Orpheus is a great musician. His music once saved Jason and the Argonauts from death. Their ship would’ve crashed into the dangerous rocks after the crew was lured toward them by the song of the Sirens. He accomplished this heroic task by drowning out the hypnotic music by playing his own songs.

When Orpheus returned from the voyage, he met, fell in love with and married lovely Eurydice. Soon thereafter, the young girl is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies. Overcome with grief, Orpheus journeys to the Underworld to rescue his beloved from the Land of the Dead. He bargains with Hades, who tells Orpheus that if he can lead Eurydice back above, without once ever looking back at her, she will again live as his bride. If he looks back at Eurydice on their journey, Orpheus’s lack of faith will send her back to Hades forever.

In Sarah Ruhl’s modern, more poetic version of the myth, we first discover the lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice, as they frolic on the beach. The young man proposes to his lady love and they’re soon married. It’s not clear exactly what happens to Eurydice, but she suddenly dies and finds herself in a Lewis Carroll-like Underworld, where stones speak and words have lost their meaning. 

There Eurydice is reunited with her Father, who passed away before the play begins. He helps his confused daughter adapt to the world of the dead in various ways. Father pretends to be her bellhop in a plush hotel. He takes her suitcase, which is empty, and creates a room for her in the vast nothingness, using only string to delineate its borders. He teaches her words that she once knew, such as “peripatetic” and “ostracize.” Father keeps his daughter company in this enormous wasteland, between warnings from the stones and visits from Hades, a strange little man wearing cowboy boots and riding a bicycle.

Naturally, Eurydice deeply misses her new husband, Orpheus, and he feels her yearning. The young man finally makes his way down to the Underworld where he attempts to rescue his bride from death. Hades tells him that she’ll be allowed to follow him back to the earth but warns, as in the original Greek myth, that he’s not permitted to turn around and look at her until they reach home. In the original story, Orpheus turns around on his own. But in Sarah Ruhl’s version of the myth, Eurydice calls out to Orpheus as they travel homeward. In response he stops, turns around and gazes upon her, immediately sending Eurydice back to the Underworld again. 

It’s a mystery if Eurydice did this accidentally or purposefully. Was she frightened to re-enter the land of living again? Or did she perhaps want to simply remain in the world of the dead where her dear Father resided? Or, as in the story that preceded Orpheus and Eurydice, was she drawn to the rocks, the Stones, who serve as a Greek Chorus throughout Ms. Ruhl’s play? It’s never really clear and the open-ended conclusion provides food for thought and conversation.

Expertly directed with passion and lyrical splendor by new Artistic Director Braden Abraham, this beautiful play is like a piece of gossamer. It’s filmy and lovely to look at but, in the end, feels flimsy, unfulfilling and open to debate. The cast, however, is smart, skilled and completely likable. John Gregorio, known to Chicago audiences from his appearances at the Goodman and Lookingglass Theatre, is masterful and touching as Father. His character’s heartwarming relationship with lovely, earnest Sarah Price, who won over audiences in Northlight’s “Dear Jack, Dear Louise,” is what makes this production so special. Veteran actor Larry Yando, best known as Ebenezer Scrooge in Goodman’s “A Christmas Carol,” delights as a gruff and goofy Lord of the Underworld; Elizabeth Ledo, John Lister and Susaan Jamshidi shine as the Stones of the Underworld; and Kenneth La’Ron Hamilton makes his promising Writers Theatre debut as Orpheus.

The real star of this production is Courtney O’Neill’s extremely impressive scenic design. Walking into the theatre, the audience is immediately captured by the large ramp, created by upward-sloping wooden slats. The set resembles a gigantic slide from a children’s playground or theme park. Draped upstage is wall hanging. It’s a type of curtain, with a series of slits cut into it that let designer Marcus Doshi’s light play on its surface. At the floor level, there’s a tall streetlight that reaches upward into the lighting grid, as well as a kind of fireplug, from which actual water flows. This seems to represent the River Styx. There’s also a quaint funicular type of elevator car that descends down the slope, carrying a single passenger down the hill. The fanciful costumes designed by Danielle Nieves are often playful and whimsical, particularly Eurydice’s unusual wedding gown and travel suit, the three Stones’ summer beachwear and, of course, the childlike cowboy couture worn by Larry Yando.

Writers Theatre is highly respected for its choices of interesting scripts, thoughtful direction, talented casts and its beautiful, artistic technical support. The opening production for the 2023/24 season arrives under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and new Artistic Director Braden Abraham. The season looks and sounds promising, with a wide variety of plays and musicals designed to please everyone. This season opener, a modern version of a familiar myth, while inventive, imaginative and enticing is, in the end, just a little disappointing and a bit perplexing for most audiences.          

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 21-October 22 by Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, IL.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 847-242-6000 or by going to www.writerstheatre.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.