Eurydice

Last night Margaret and I went to see "Eurydice" at the Yale Reperatory Theatre. It's a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice: Eurydice and Orpheus have just married and are deeply in love; Orpheus is a gifted musician, his instrument the lyre. Eurydice was pursued against her will by Aristaeus, and as she ran from him, she stepped on a viper and was killed. Orpheus, in his grief, decided to descend to the Underworld and try to get her back. He played his sorrowful music and even Hades, the ruler of the underworld, was swayed. Hades agreed to release Eurydice, with one caveat: on their journey out of the Underworld, Eurydice must follow behind Orpheus, and he must not look back until they are both in the light. When they are almost out of the world of the dead, Orpheus, in his anxiety to make sure Eurydice is still with him, looks back and she is whisked downward to the Underworld, leaving Orpheus alone once again.

In this production, the focus is on Eurydice's relationship with her dead father, with whom she is reunited in the Underworld. With themes of amnesia, memory, and the retelling of their lives, they gradually come to know one another again, altho Eurydice is torn between her love for her father in the Underworld and her love for Orpheus above. It was to me a very interesting and engaging production; unfortunately, it made Margaret very very sad, and she wished she had not seen it. I believe she is still grieving the loss of her own parents and this script hit too close to home, to heart.

The photo is from the publicity.