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“Eurydice,” written by Sarah Ruhl, is a somber, tragic love story. This kind of material is challenging for any student-run theater group to put on. The Maine Masque’s production, however, is a worthwhile experience.
In the actual myth Eurydice is Orpheus’ new bride. She dies and falls into the underworld. Orpheus pursues Eurydice to her new home and uses his musical talent to persuade the ruler of the underworld to release his bride.
In Ruhl’s version, directed by senior theater student Anthony Arnista, Orpheus uses music to reconnect with Eurydice. After Eurydice dies, Orpheus — played by third-year theater student Sam Watson — sings “Wagon Wheel” by Bob Dylan. This poignant moment in the play is one of many songs that Arnista infuses in the play to contemporize and freshen it up.
However, it feels a little out of place for Orpheus to say, “I wrote this song for you Eurydice,” however because we all know that Bob Dylan wrote it. I suppose Watson sings it well enough for me to forget such things. Watson plays Orpheus like he’s an empty shell after he loses Eurydice. He’s almost too somber in an already somber play. If he had more vigor and fight in him to find his wife he would be the stand out in this production.
The play is about loss and the cathartic steps taken to resurrect the dead. It is a testament to how we use music in stories to give life to the dead and what we’ve left behind.
From the beginning we see the father, played by Karl Livonius, explains his longing to be alive with his daughter, Eurydice. He says he can still read and write as he refuses to forget his past life. This defies the conventions of the underworld, as people live in lethargic states of oblivion.
It’s only ironic that the father gets reacquainted with Eurydice in the afterlife. Their relationship is similar to father and infant, as Eurydice has no memory of her father or how to live. The father uses stories to reinvigorate her memory.
Mandy Fahey, a fourth-year theater student, plays Eurydice with childlike innocence. I’m not sure if she is a young woman or older woman in the play. She reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, lost in a strange world that’s distant from her own.
As her father helps her remember, she is barraged by a chorus of stones with the rules of the underworld, which includes not having a room or a bath or anything that a real person would want.
The stones are the most animated and vivacious of the characters. Ryan Jackson as the Big Stone, Gavin Pickering as the Loud Stone and Allison Smith as the Little Stone are amusing and distinct chorus members.
The set, designed by student Tricia Hobbs, is the most impressive aspect of the play. It is marked by hard, triangular edges without any soft surfaces, reinforcing the lifeless, discomforting underworld environment of the play.
The Lord of the Underworld is played devilishly by third-year English education student Kirsten Johansen. Her entrance is marked by a hardcore song that blares in the audience’s faces. This is an intimate play between the audience and actors.
The play runs today, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 and free with MaineCard.
Bangor Daily News