I love the bitter-sweet love story of Eurydice and Orpheus. There’s been so many interpretations of their story. So, when I heard that Melbourne Shakespeare Company were tackling a version of the tale, I was excited. Although, Sarah Raul’s play Eurydice is not what I expected.
Eurydice, directed by Gary Abrahams, follows Aisha Aidara’s Eurydice. Set in what appears to be a modern apartment, we witness Eurydice and Tomàš Kantor’s Orpheus be incredibly affectionate together with undeniable chemistry in the privacy of their room. They’re hugging, laughing, kissing and both appear to have a lot of energy to want to do different things. Eurydice shares that she loves her reading and books, whilst Orpheus is a musical genius. At the starts, he shares that he wrote a song for her but can’t sing it because it’s in twelve parts. Twelve! He wants Eurydice to remember the melody of just one part, except she’s off key and has no rhythm.
On her wedding night, tempted by a letter from her deceased father that is at the care of a very strange and mysterious man (one must wonder how does mail transport from the underworld to the living), Eurydice quickly dies and is reunited in the underworld with her dead father played by John Voce. At this point, the show is less about Eurydice and Orpheus, and more about Eurydice and her father.
One must wonder why the iconic bitter-sweet love story was hijacked to be more about a daughter and her dad? No doubt, Eurydice is a figure that has always been surrounded by loss and grief, but I feel like Raul could’ve written a completely original play instead, visiting these connections that could have been executed in a more authentic and emotional light.
As a play, and through this production, I felt that Eurydice doesn’t work. Perhaps it works on paper? I found myself wanting to know more about Eurydice’s connection with Orpheus, and instead, what we witnessed was a father and daughter reminiscing about their past, in a way that made it seem like if not for a trio of annoying neighbours, the underworld isn’t really such a bad place to live. Well, minus the part about not having your own room, nobody being able to sleep (although, Eurydice tries to), still having to work, Big Stone, Little Stone and Loud Stone (played fantastically by Joshua Gordon, Fran Sweeney-Nash and Miles Paras) speaking out of sync, and the Lord of the Underworld (Devon Braithwaite) randomly appearing everywhere, even out of an ice-box to tap dance at one point. Why? I still don’t know.
At no point did the show feel like it was a female point of view of Eurydice’s story, as for part of the show, she’s not even present. How could this show be her point of view when she’s not even there for some of it!?
Visually and musically, Eurydice is fascinating. Composer and musical director Grace Feruson has outdone herself, while the set and costume design, lighting design and sound design by Nathan Burmeister, Spencer Herd and Justin Gardam respectively, combine their powers for a truly haunting and eerie experience. I didn’t realise the pile of hard rubbish on the far corner of the room was part of the stage, until the cast started heading over to collect props. When Orpheus is heading to the underworld, the plastic sheets and wind helped to make the show appear spiritual, ghostly and almost photographic. Although, for part of the performance, I must confess, I, along with other audience members were genuinely concerned about the cast choking on the plastic sheets and not being able to breathe properly.
Eurydice is an extremely flawed play. Far too poetic and not at all descriptive and practical enough to be a decent one. If you, like me, love the story of Eurydice and Orpheus, you will be disappointed. Although I feel I understood enough of what this play was trying to do, and it wasn’t necessarily a bad production by any means, I did not like it. It feels like a gorgeous legacy and long-standing tale, beloved by so many, has been trampled on, mutilated to become something completely unrelated and irrelevant, and I cannot unsee that. Now, I don’t have any issue with stories about daughters and their fathers. What I do have issues with is Orpheus and Eurydice’s romance being an afterthought, and Orpheus appearing one-dimensional (through no fault of the cast, Kantor has a lovely voice).
However, my biggest beef with this play, is that it tries to make Orpheus and Eurydice appear mismatched through their lack of musicality compatibility, when in truth, you do not have to be a musician to date and marry one. That was just ridiculous.
Eurydice is dark play, not at all from a female point of view, and isn’t about romantic love. Instead, what we have is familial love, loss and forgetting, and not in a way that’s remotely moving. You will not be shedding any tears anytime soon and I look forward to forgetting this show completely.
Eurydice is currently playing at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne until June 14th.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://www.melbourneshakespeare.com/eurydice
Photography by Nick Mick Pics.
