Friday, September 29, 2006

Ruhl's "Eurydice" Masterful

Sarah Ruhl, a couple of weeks ago, became a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. It's the so-called "genius" award. Two years ago she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play "The Clean House" which enjoyed a wondrous world premiere at Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven. Another production of that play opens at Lincoln Center in October. Now, Yale Rep opens its season with Ruhl's "Eurydice," her take on the ancient myth, "Orpheus and Eurydice." Running for ninety minutes without intermission through Oct. 14th in New Haven, the production is absolutely mesmerizing.

As a graduate student at Brown three years ago, Ruhl wrote this play. The Rep production honors her viewpoint while highlighting metaphor through stunning, stylized visuals.

She tells the story from Eurydice's perspective and, throughout, the lovely young woman's father is pivotal. Here, one imagines, the plotline is drawn, to an extent, through Ruhl's life experience. She lost her own father when she was twenty -- and a college student.

Les Waters (director), Scott Bradley (set designer), Russell H. Champa (lighting effects), and Bray Poor (sound) provide unusally vivid dimension which makes this particular production fully distinctive. By raking the stage toward the actors' right, the creative team is able to simulate torrents of water (or, is this the real thing?)......Since the action moves, on the same plane, from symbolic overworld to underworld, high quality production elements are a must. The same individuals who invented Berkeley Repertory's acclaimed production stun Yale's audiences exactly two years later. They've provided the water-strewn elevator and a ride via the River Styx to Hades.

The myth tells the tale of the beautiful Eurydice (Maria Dizzia) who, dies -- and who is pursued beneath the ground by the musical Orpheus (Joseph Parks). He is determined to find her, live with her, and is singleminded in his quest.

Eurydice, beneath ground level, meets her Father (Charles Shaw Robinson), who passed away and has, since then, attempted to reach and find his daughter. Father has actually rehearsed walking his daughter down the aisle as he imagined her wedding.

Ruhl injects other characters such as Little, Big, and Loud Stone (respectively Carla Harting, Ramiz Monsef, and Gian-Murray Gianino). Actor Mark Zeisler doubles as Nasty Interesting Man (also seeking Eurydice) and Lord of the Underworld. He rides an audacious tricycle.
Ruhl brings in music: "I Got Rhythm," "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree," a Guns 'N Roses number, and more.

The Stones are a wild trip. Fully uninhibited, they are cartoon-like and totally engaging. Wildly comic and delightfully unreal, the creations provide a counter to the poignant, gripping, oh-so-romantic love story which is at the crux of "Eurydice."

I feel the echo, at times, of Eric Hill's "Visions of an Ancient Dreamer," presented at Springfield's StageWest during the fall of 1990. Hill, then, and Ruhl, currently, move away from the dry and literal while involving theatergoers through imaginative/intellectually stimulating work.

Ruhl's play is sometimes "Father and Eurydice" and, at other moments, "Orpheus and Eurydice." It is heartbreaking to hear Father musing about the marriage of his daugther, even if he is unable to bear witness. Ruhl is forever touching, not maudlin, and her touch includes moments of comedy, too. Yale's rendering features excellent, spirited acting -- by the entire cast.

The symbolic colors within this "Eurydice" include a multitude of shades. Thus, it is delectably impossible to stereotype this particular show. Its singularity bears the imprint of a splendid playwright.

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