A palpable sense of loss hangs over Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl's bittersweet 2003 expansion of the enduring Greek myth about the doomed romance between a musician and his muse. In most iterations, the action centers on Orpheus’s ill-fated journey to the underworld in an effort to reclaim his late bride, Euridyce. But Ruhl’s interpretation, inspired by her father's death when she was 20 years old, gives the title character greater agency, centrality and ultimately heartbreak.
Eurydice (an appealing Maya Hawke) and Orpheus (Caleb Eberhardt) are first revealed in the youthful flush of their intense courtship, canoodling in bathing suits on Scott Bradley's beautiful set of tile and pipes, a watery bridge between this plane and the next. But Eurydice abandons her own wedding celebration to follow a ghoulish man (the delightfully creepy T. Ryder Smith) who claims to have letters for her from her beloved dead father. Thus lured into the underworld by Hades, god of the dead, she encounters a chorus of cheeky Stones (Maria Elena Ramirez, Jon Norman Schneider and David Ryan Smith, informative and funny). Although her doting dad is also there—played by Brian d'Arcy James at his most endearing—her passage through the River of Forgetfulness has made her unable to recognize him or communicate with him. Thus begins a poignant reacquaintance as Eurydice's father devotes himself to reminding her of the unbreakable bond they retain even in death.
Eurydice | Photograph: Courtesy Brad Holley
Familiarity with the source material is key to appreciating this Eurydice, along with a certain patience for experimentation. Ruhl's riff leans into surrealism, symbolism, dark humor and poetry as the title character is torn between husband and father, romance and grief, the living and the dead. The production includes moving moments and breathtaking visuals: Eurydice arriving to the underworld in a torrent of rain; wall tiles revealed to be letters from Eurydice's father; Hades in a party hat circling menacingly on a tricycle; the Stones decked out like commedia dell'arte clowns.
Les Waters has directed many productions of the play over the years, including Second Stage’s acclaimed 2007 mounting. His Signature Theatre staging employs several of the same design elements and artists (scenic designer Bradley and sound designer Bray Poor), giving this Eurydice the potential to be doubly haunting: You may well have seen it before. That’s an apt response to Ruhl’s mournful exploration of loss, an experience we all share but process in our own ways. Her Eurydice is a reimagined remembrance of a story we feel compelled to revisit over and over, even once we’ve learned the dangers of looking back.
Eurydice. Signature Theatre Company (Off Broadway). By Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Les Waters. Starring Maya Hawke, Brian d'Arcy James. Running time: 1hr 30mins. No intermission.
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Eurydice | Photograph: Courtesy Brad Holley
