Most people are acquainted with the traditional Orpheus myth, the story of the classic poet and musician’s tragic romance with the sweet maiden Eurydice. Orpheus is the famed “father of songs,” who uses his music to charm the birds, the trees and the beasts, change the course of rivers and remind the sun to rise at dawn. Eurydice, the wood nymph, is Orpheus’ bride and muse—the woman whose death inspires the saddest of songs and whose power over Orpheus commands his attempt to rescue her from the Underworld.
The traditional myth centers on Orpheus, highlighting his musical brilliance and heroic feats, but playwright Sarah Ruhl’s theatrical adaptation chooses as muse the same person Orpheus chooses for his own inspiration—the eponymous Eurydice. Ruhl’s adaptation, while remaining faithful to the original story, adds the more complete understanding that comes with a different perspective.
As the story traces Eurydice’s adventures, including her time in the Underworld, it introduces a major character in Eurydice’s father, played by Peter Lobdell ’68, Senior Resident Artist of the Theatre and Dance Department. Veteran college actor Lisa Smith ’09 and rising talent Kalan Rutstein ’11 head the cast as Eurydice and Orpheus.
In Ruhl’s version of the story, Eurydice’s newfound relationship with her father complicates the climax of the story. According to myth, Orpheus persuades Hades and Persephone to grant him entrance into the Underworld. He is allowed to rescue Eurydice on the condition that he does not look back until both are safely back on the surface of the Earth. Orpheus lands on Earth’s surface, but anxious and impatient he turns back to look for Eurydice and causes her to fall back to the Underworld—this time forever. Not surprisingly, Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” gives its heroine a greater role in her own fate. In the play’s climax, she must ultimately choose between her love for her father and her love for Orpheus. “She is not simply a source of inspiration for Orpheus, but a daughter as well,” explained Rutstein. “One who loves her father and is not so easily swept off her feet as the myth suggests.”
The cast of “Eurydice” has been rehearsing since the beginning of the semester in anticipation of opening night this Thursday. Shana Cooper, the Guest Director from the Yale School of Drama, took a new approach to instructing her stars on their performance; according to Smith, who Cooper specifically asked to play Eurydice, the cast spent the first day of rehearsal playing games relating to perspective and physicality. At the end of the rehearsal, Cooper herself performed an “essence piece” that attempted to “embody the essence of the play or of a character in it,” Smith said. All of the actors were required to present similar pieces in the subsequent rehearsals.
“The greatest part of these essence pieces and of the other styles of improvisational compositions that we make in rehearsal is that they force one to be absolutely present and passionate about what one is doing and how one is doing it,” Smith elucidated. “You can’t just yawn and stretch by the sidelines, waiting for your cue to walk onstage and give a few lines.”
Although rehearsals are rigorous, Smith suggested that her favorite part of acting is the interaction that takes place with the other actors on stage. During auditions, Smith did not feel as though she had any chemistry with costar Kalan Rutstein, although the pair now get along very well, and each considers the other to be a “grand friend.” Throughout the rehearsals, Rutstein was mostly concerned with presenting Orpheus’ “naïvité thoughtfully and with depth.” Orpheus may be “a little too young and in love, but this only makes him a more inspired and capable musician and human being,” Rutstein pointed out. Smith believes that one of the play’s most touching elements is the evolving nature of Orpheus’ love. According to Smith, at the end “[Orpehus] has finally come to understand who [Eurydice] is as a person and has changed his entire outlook on their relationship from being one of him loving her as his muse to him loving her, his muse.”
With opening night fast approaching, Smith expressed some concerns about the enormity of her role in the play. Friends that have seen countless productions and adaptations of the classic piece told Smith that a poor portrayal by the actress playing Eurydice can often lead to the overall “downfall” of the performance. “Needless to say, this is a bit frightening,” admitted Smith, who has devoted much of her thesis-burdened senior fall semester to truly understanding and becoming her character. “I think, in playing this role, I’ve worked on embracing the concept of being a muse, of being that person all people look to in order to better see the beauty in the world.” Smith credits her director, Cooper, with the insightful advice to stop and breathe instead of worrying about entertaining the audience. “The more truthful I am, the more captivating Eurydice is.”
Less abstractly, Smith is excited about having her mother in the audience, although she is going to try to not concern herself too much with who is in the audience. Usually, the lighting and the stage create a fourth wall that helps Smith separate herself from the audience. “But that’s not even going to be close to true for this play,” Smith noted, since Holden is so “intimate” and she must “get right up to the front and talk to the audience more than once.” Rutstein is also excited about bringing Orpheus and the magical world he inhabits to life. “I hope all the moments of technical spectacle happen as planned because they really help to make the world magical … and give the play an ‘ooh’ factor.” Smith noted that for an audience used to super-realistic movies, Eurydice might seem “a bit off-center.” She hopes they can nevertheless take away “a sense of the beauty in the quirks of life and a wish to spend more time with and give everything they can give to the people they care for the most.” Rutstein’s hopes for the audience opening night might be more simply-put, but they are just as ambitious: “I hope they’re moved.”