STUDY GUIDE Prepared by Production Dramaturg Kimberly Colburn and Literary Inte

STUDY GUIDE Prepared by Production Dramaturg Kimberly Colburn and Literary Intern Rachell Campbell TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: THE PLAY Orpheus and Eurydice: A Brief Synopsis of the Myth Production History Highlights of Eurydice Motifs in the Play Part II: THE PLAYWRIGHT About the Playwright: Sarah Ruhl by David Myers List of Ruhl’ s Plays Part III: THE PRODUCTION Designing Eurydice Part IV: QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION Before the Show After the Show Part V: RESOURCES Other Study Guides and Programs Reference Materials Articles W hile there are many variations on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice among poets Ovid, Virgil, and Apollonius or philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the basic story goes as follows. A charming and talented musician, Orpheus is the son of a Thracian king and the muse Calliope. When Orpheus plays, every animate and inanimate thing follows and his music can divert the course of rivers. He meets and marries the maiden Eurydice—thought to be perhaps a nymph (minor Greek deity related to nature), or maybe a daughter of Apollo. Their joy is brief; on their wedding day Eurydice travels through a meadow with her bridesmaids (in some versions, she’s running to escape the sexual advances of a satyr or shepherd) and she steps into a pit of vipers. She is bitten by a snake and dies. Overcome with grief, Orpheus strikes a sad note on his lyre and travels to the Underworld. A normal mortal would have perished, but Orpheus uses his music to charm the spirits and Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Hades agrees to let Eurydice return to the world of the living on one condition: that she must follow Orpheus and he could not look back at her until they reach the outer world. The young couple sets off as proscribed. Whether his faith was not able to withstand the test or whether he was tricked by the gods, Orpheus fatefully looks back at Eurydice. She is taken back to the Underworld. In some versions, Orpheus is simply heartbroken and in others he is punished, wandering alone with his lyre until he is torn apart by a band of Maeneds. Sarah Ruhl’s play uses the basic myth as inspiration, but differs in many ways. As classicist M. Owen Lee said in his book entitled Virgil as Orpheus, “A great artist never touches a myth without developing, expanding, and sometimes radically changing it.” Eurydice’s father doesn’t play a role in the original myth, but he plays a pivotal role in Ruhl’s play. In the classical versions of the story, Eurydice is a passive victim. In Ovid’s version of the story, she doesn’t speak at all and in Virgil’s poem she says only a few words after Orpheus has already looked back at her. In Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, she is given both a voice and a choice. The story in brief, using epic poetry excerpts: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/eurydice/ eurydicemyth.html A modern vernacular re-telling: http://www.shmoop.com/orpheus-eurydice/summary. html Another brief narrative version: http://www.paleothea.com/Myths/Orpheus.html Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1861. Part I: THE PLAY Orpheus and Eurydice: A Brief Synopsis of the Myth Workshop production at Brown University Theatre in 2001 “[Eurydice] had, I think, 14 staged readings. It was a long, long road in development. By the 13th reading I didn’t change a word.” –Sarah Ruhl, in a 2004 interview World premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre in 2003 West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2004 • Directed by Les Waters • Sets by Scott Bradley and costumes by Meg Neville • The set was created with faux tiles and extreme wash-lighting. The rain elevator was placed center- stage and umbrellas completed the aesthetics. Reds, pinks, and blues were used to enhance the set as stipulated in the script to “resemble the world of Alice in Wonderland more than it resembles Hades.” The Stones appear in 1800s attire, complete with bowler hats, but complimented by dark makeup causing them to resemble dark caricatures of a Dickens’ novel. Off-Broadway premiere at Second Stage Theatre 2007 • Directed by Les Waters • Used the same designs as Berkeley Repertory by Scott Bradley and Meg Neville Yale Repertory Theatre 2008 • Directed by Les Waters • Used the same designs as Berkeley Repertory by Scott Bradley and Meg Neville Eurydice continues to be a popular piece to produce. Other productions include Rutgers University, The Wilma Theater, Artistic Repertory Theatre, Curiosity Theatre, Theatre Ink, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, A Noise Within and A Contemporary Theatre. Foreground, Maria Dizzia as Eurydice and Charles Shaw Robinson as her father. Background, Ramiz Monsef, Gian-Murray Gianino, and Carla Harting as The Stones in Yale Repertory’s 2008 production of Eurydice. Photo by Joan Marcus. Production History Highlights of Eurydice A watercolor of the set design by Scott Bradley. Daniel Talbott appeared in Eurydice at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Photo: Ken Friedman. Motifs in the Play T he story invokes many images, and director Marc Masterson’s production emphasizes several of these motifs. Gerard Howland’s set uses string, water and pipes in creative ways to delineate the world and later the Underworld in the play. Water and string figure prominently in the dialogue of the characters and also have layers of resonance in other myths and cultures. Water • Rivers of the Underworld: In Greek mythology, the Underworld is surrounded by five rivers. Each river has a specific purpose. 1. Acheron: the river of lamentation. 2. Cocytus: the river of woe. 3. Lethe: the river of forgetfulness. 4. Phlegethon: the river of fire. 5. Styx: the river of hate and the unbreakable oath and fatal to the living. • Water nymphs: In the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, occasionally Eurydice and/or her bridesmaids are described as nymphs or naiads. Naiads are water nymphs that inhabit fountains, wells, springs, brooks, rivers, marshes, ponds and lagoons. In Greek mythology, naiads were friendly creatures who had the power of foresight, and were said to make prophecies. String • The Fates (also called the Moirai): In Greek mythology, string or thread is used as a metaphor for life and is governed by the three fates. Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis determines the length of the thread and Atropos cuts the thread in death. • The Red String of Fate: In Chinese and Japanese legends, gods tie an invisible red string around the fingers of those who are destined for one another regardless of time, place or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the western concept of “soulmates” or a “twin flame. • String Theory: A theory in physics that attempts to explain the entirety of how the universe works. The idea proposes that the fundamental ingredients of nature are inconceivably tiny strings of energy, whose different modes of vibration underlie everything that happens in the universe. The theory successfully unites the laws of the large—general relativity—and the laws of the small—quantum mechanics—breaking a conceptual logjam that has frustrated the world’s smartest scientists for nearly a century. It is the theory that Sheldon Cooper in the popular sitcom “Big Bang Theory” is attempting to prove. Music • Lyre: In Greek mythology, Orpheus plays a lyre, a stringed instrument. It is strummed like a guitar, although it often looks like a U-shaped harp. The legend goes that young Orpheus was given the lyre by Apollo who taught him not only how to play it, but also how to produce magical effects and charm anyone or anything that heard him play. Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx by Joachim Patinir, c. 1515-1524 • Greek Sirens: In Greek mythology, the sirens are dangerous creatures that appear as beautiful women who are part bird. These women lure sailors to death with their song. Listeners would forget everything except for the music, and would starve to death. Stone • Religious Stones: Feature prominently in several Judeo-Christian religions. In Christianity, God figuratively refers to Jesus Christ as a “stone.” The apostle Peter (whose name means rock in Greek) is also referred to as the cornerstone of the Christian church, in the New Testament (Matthew 16:18). In Islam, Ka’baa or Black Rock of Mecca is the ancient stone monument toward which Muslims pray every day. It’s located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Ka’baa is honored by Muslims as an Islamic relic, and according to tradition, dates back to Adam and Eve. In Jewish tradition, stones are put on graves instead of flowers. • Stone Markers: Since ancient times, stacks of stones have been used as landmarks. Also called cairns, today they are most often used to mark mountain bike and hiking trails and other cross- country trail blazing, especially in mountainous regions at or above the tree line. • Stonehenge: A monument in England, built sometime between 3000 and 2000 BCE, according to carbon dating. Archeologists believe that it was used as a burial ground for several hundred years. For more about Stonehenge visit: http:// www.usatoday.com/money/topstories/2008-05-29- 1711958402_x.htm Myths of The uploads/Litterature/ eurydice-guide.pdf

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• Publié le Jui 18, 2022
• Catégorie Literature / Litté...
• Langue French
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