Playwright Sarah Ruhl invariably incites as much discussion as her plays. The Evanston native is a lightning rod whose work draws rabidly enthusiastic or equally vitriolic reactions. “The Clean House” was a Pulitzer finalist, “Passion Play” a bloated spectacle, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” a headscratching overdose of saccharine whimsy. With “Eurydice,” Ruhl uncharacteristically finds a middle ground that’s skitters on the edge of mediocre ground. Her take on the Greek myth of Eurydice is smooth, enjoyable and drizzled with just enough emotional honesty to keep it from tipping into a waterfall of treacle.
Speaking of which, the uncredited lead is H2O. As in the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", there’s water water all around. Key elements of the piece include a beach, a water-cooler, a fantastical elevator containing a downpour, a bathtub stand-in for the River Lethe – and that’s just the set. The text is equally drenched, with lovely lines such as “I heard your name inside the rain” punctuating the dialogue. The result is a gentle stream of tragedy and a meditation on memory, loss and love.
Such Big Issues can sink a story, turning it into a pretentious slog faster than a lightning crack in a cloud burst. But by weaving a modern sensibility with a lyrically pattering sprinkle of magical realism, Ruhl makes the myth (and all its implications) as accessible as a picture book. Directed by Sandy Shinner and Jessica Thebus, Eurydice is defined by a simple, clean poetry and beguiling staging.
The story is paradoxically simple and endlessly complex. Orpheus loves Eurydice with as much passion as he lavishes in his other lover – music. Eurydice loves Orpheus with equal fervor. The two marry with a devotion that is boundless, obsessive and forever rapturous, world without end, amen. But when Eurydice goes to get a drink of water during their wedding reception (following a joyous, 40s-inspired dance to “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree”), she is lured away by a stranger who claims to have a letter for her – from her dead father.
From there, it’s down the rabbit hole – or rather, down the drain via tempest-toss’d elevator – and into a pastel-pink infused Hades. In the underworld, memory doesn’t exist, language as humans know it is defunct (Tellingly, “Orpheus never liked words,” Eurydice muses at one point.) and stones sternly explain the rules to newcomers still confused and damp from their dip in Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
As Eurydice and Orpheus (respectively,) Lee Stark and Jamie Abelson glow with the straightforward beauty of youth and perfectly interdependent devotion. But the scene-stealer (in the best possible way) here is Beau O’Reilly, a Chicago treasure whose whiskey-over-smoking-gravel voice and leering presence invigorate the tale with a gleeful malevolence. Few people are capable of making a shiny red tricycle gleam with menace – O’Reilly does it with the ease of the Big Bad Wolf downing an ingénue.
Like water, Andre Pluess’ sound design is also a character, a layered mix of storms, showers, musical drops, drops and head-banging hellishness that one might expect to hear way down under. The result? And engaging if unremarkable evening.
Photo by Liz Lauren. Lee Stark as Eurydice, Jamie Abelson as Orpheus.
"Eurydice" runs through Nov. 9 at the Victory Gardens BIography, 2433 N. Lincoln, Chicago. Tickets are $20 - 40, For more info, go to http://www.victorygardens.org or call 773/871-3000..
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