"Eurydice" - River Stage - Cosumnes River College

On Friday evening, several of us DMTC folks went to see "Eurydice" at River Stage (Director: Frank Condon).

Playwright Sarah Ruhl interprets the Greek legend of Orpheus & Eurydice from the viewpoint of Eurydice, and introduces a figure not in the legend: Eurydice's father. The story is about the bond between a father and his daughter; forgetfulness and the need of a daughter to eventually leave her father for her husband. Sarah Ruhl wrote the play in honor of her own father, who had recently passed away. Frank Condon likely had personal reasons of his own to direct the play.

Paul Fearn plays the father, Destiny Robbins played Eurydice, and Spencer Tregilgas plays Orpheus.

Jim Carnes at the Sacramento Bee provides a good summary of the play:

The Greek myth of Orpheus is one of the world's great love stories. When Eurydice suddenly dies, Orpheus, a master musician, pours out such sad music that the gods are persuaded to give him a second chance at life with her. He storms the gates of the Underworld to lead her back to Earth with only one stricture: If he looks back, he will lose her again, and this time forever.

(Several other cultures have similar tales. Even the biblical story of Lot and his wife bears a resemblance: When he looked back, she was turned into a pillar of salt.)

In Ruhl's tale, the Underworld has its river (presumably the Lethe, although it goes unnamed here). There's no fire and no stench here, and one arrives via elevator, in which – interestingly and inexplicably – it is raining.

A dip in the river removes all memory of the real world, or is supposed to. When Eurydice arrives, she is greeted by her dead father, who has escaped the memory loss and helps his daughter recover pieces of her memory as well.

In fact, it was a letter written by him to her for her wedding day that inadvertently resulted in her death. His wishes for a happy life for his daughter – giving her, as it were, to her husband – resulted in her returning to him, albeit through death. That's just one of the ironies of the play. The inevitability of loss and what we gain from the experience of it is another interesting aspect of Ruhl's story.

It's a difficult thing to put on stage, but director Condon and his cast and crew succeed admirably.

The set, beautifully designed by Kale Braden (who also did the lighting) is a multilevel affair with walkways throughout the audience, where a surprising amount of the action takes place. The acting is uniformly fine, with Spencer Tregilgas as Orpheus and Destiny Robbins as Eurydice appealing and solid in their roles. Paul Fearn shows true affection as Eurydice's father, while Earl Victorine romps through two comically sinister roles (as A Nasty Interesting Man and Lord of the Underworld). Eric Alston, Joshua Carranza-Vick and John Hopkins add humor as a chorus of Stones (named Big, Little and Loud, respectively).