Uncomfortable, Eurydice leaves. But only one thing at a time. Context:Eurydice has reconnected with her dead Father in the Underworld. Show me your body, he said. Grilling a fish or toasting bread without burning requires singleness of purpose, vigilance and steadfast watching. Musician marries the love of his life; on their wedding day, she dies. He is affectionate, then solemn, then glad, then solemn, then amused, then solemn. To my Husbands Next Wife: Be gentle. Because he is a young prince and his robes are too heavy on him. report form. I want you to be happy. But he is always going away from you. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. Say something! (Ruhl 2006, 376). Scripts and rental materials are not included in this estimate. She claps. Unlike Eurydice in Movement One, he does not have an umbrella to shield him from the rain inside the elevator. Upon arrival, she meets her father, who tries to reteach Eurydice about her past since she has lost her memory after being dipped in the river Lethe. (The father thinksoh, dear.) . Well, these particular arguments were very interesting. New York: Theatre Communications Group He had. 4 0 obj More Invisible Terrains: Sarah Ruhl, Interviewed by Wendy Weckwerth, Theater 34.2: 28-35. ORPHEUS: A luminous retelling of the Orpheus myth, lush and limpid as a dream where both author and audience swim in the magical, sometimes menacing, and always thrilling flow of the unconscious." Orpheus You would be lonely for music. With Eurydice, Ruhl focused on condensing her already lyrical language into a music-friendly length. And, for the most part, there is a pleasant atmosphere and you can work and socialize, much like at home. If we were in a restaurant, sometimes I would get embarrassed because Orpheus looked sullen and wouldnt talk to me and I thought people felt sorry for me. Born in Wilmette, Illinois. It will be imprinted on my heart like wax. Her research focuses on the Roman historians and Tacitus in particular. Meanwhile, her father has decided that he wants to forget everything, and dips himself in the river again. Sarah Ruhl has adapted her play "Eurydice" with composer Matthew Aucoin for a Los Angeles Opera production premiering Feb. 1. Orpheus journeys to retrieve his bride, but Eurydice has begun to discover that the cost of living again can sometimes exceed the cost of staying dead. I don't know what came over me. They make a quarter turn and he makes a sweeping gesture. After she has left, The Nasty Interesting Man sees the letter her father sent. Orpheus sends another letter, and then resolves to go to the underworld himself to find her. She starts to cry, and so her Father does something extraordinary: he constructs a room of string. of - glows off you - like a veil - in reverse - you're like anyone's soul mate - because you have that -. The apartment is very high up. They start walking, arm in arm,on extensive unseen boardwalks, towards the water. Thus the raining elevator manipulates light, space, and depth. This juxtaposition surely drives the artistic momentum of the play, but it also makes heavy demands on the audience. Emily Grim finds the sweetness and sorrow in Eurydice, a young woman led astray by her innocence and cruelly doomed to forget the essence of her being. Type: Dramedy. He would get a funny look on his face and I would say what are you thinking about and he would always be thinking about music. Eurydice is lost to death forever. Concord Theatricals Sarah Ruhl's plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Melancholy Play, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, Stage Kiss, Dear Elizabeth, Eurydice, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Orlando, Late . CHARACTERS: Eurydice Her Father Orpheus A Nasty Interesting Man/The Lord of the Underworld. Eurydice does not want to marry The Lord of the Underworld. This time, he is in the elevator that rains on the inside. It can fit around anything. New York, NY 10107-0102, "Rhapsodically beautiful. EURYDICE: I don't need to know about rhythm. - The New Yorker, "Exquisitely staged by Les Waters and an inventive design team [] Ruhl's wild flights of imagination, some deeply affecting passages and beautiful imagery provide transporting pleasures. A weird and wonderful new play - an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the pleasures and pains of memory." Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. Continue to give yourself to others because that's the ultimate satisfaction in life--to love, accept, honor and help others. "Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley. She admits that Eurydice is a transparently personal play. EURYDICE: Dear Orpheus, I'm sorry. The story focuses on Eurydice's choice to return to earth with Orpheus or to stay in the underworld with her father (a character created by Ruhl). She crawls on top of him and kisses his eyes. EURYDICE: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [1][2] The play next was produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California, in October to November 14, 2004. And in doing so, the work asks questions about what Eurydice actually wants out of her life and afterlife. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Ruhl, Sarah. She earned her MFA at Brown University, where she drafted Eurydice in 2001; it premiered in Madison in 2003 and made its New York premiere off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in 2007. The cast of Eurydice is small: Eurydice, Orpheus, A Nasty Interesting Man / The Lord of the Underworld (played by the same actor), and a Chorus of Stones named Big Stone, Little Stone, and Loud Stone. Instead, Ruhl adds the Father, in a move that is intensely autobiographical. Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of . At the beginning of the second movement, there is no set change, but "the movement to the underworld is marked by the entrance of stones":[18] Little Stone, Big Stone, and Loud Stone, who serve as a chorus. Yet the script lends itself to such whimsical production choices: it is at once irrational, frivolous, and silly, in stark contrast to the classical origin of the myth and classical form of theater. As for me, this is what it's like being dead: The atmosphere smells. a water-pump, Represented by: Bruce Ostler Bret Adams, Ltd. 448 West 44th St. New York, NY 10036 (212) 765-5030. / an abstracted River of Forgetfulness, His breath will propel him, and he will be swept to the underworld. If you look back at herpoof! Sarah Ruhl re-imagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. Shes gone (Ruhl 2006, 391). In Movement Two, Eurydice meets her father in the underworld. But he is always going away from you. You never know. . Youre welcome. He had his music. Amy Tamblidge, this totally annoying born again "ho" with giant tits talking about her dreams for global peace, Randall Betrick ranting on about his parents divorce again, Trey . it. Monologue: "He's taken an interest. But as she catches up to him, she calls out his name, and he turns to look at her, causing her to die a second death. It was an astonishing production: I was mesmerized by the lightness of the language, the depth of the characters, the beauty of the set, and the extraordinary emotional resonance of the storytelling. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story. He gradually re-teaches her human language and her past. This volume also includes Eurydice, Ruhl's reinvention of the tragic Greek . This is only an estimate. Instead she leaves a letter for Orpheus. It only means one thing. She sings the melody. I dont know what came over me. Sarah Ruhl: THE CLEAN HOUSE. The story focuses on Eurydice's choice to return to earth with Orpheus or to stay in the underworld with her father (a character created by Ruhl). He lies though, saying the letter was wrongly delivered to his apartment. Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl's new opera Eurydice, which premiered at LA Opera in 2020 and opens at the Met this fall, turns the classic myth on its head. Scene: Second Movement, Scene 16 Setting: The String Room in the Underworld. He reads a letter explaining that although he has been dipped in the River of Forgetfulness, he is one of the few dead who still remembers how to read and write. The story is familiar. This Study Guide consists of approximately 50pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - But I still love you, I think. EURYDICE: (She looks at her father, embarrassed for revealing too much.). Order the play. Maybe you could also get me another ringa gold one--to put over the string one. In silence the third scene passes. Cultivate the arts of dancing and small talk. 2. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. He finds Eurydice's letter. 2006. He will put a straw in his mouth while he sleeps. help you understand the book. One day, inexplicably, Tilly becomes happy, and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. by Sarah Ruhl. This is a monologue done entirely without irony, or if there is any, it's a self-reflective sort of irony from Tilly's perspective, not the actor's. Sarah Ruhl's notes in this play say "do not be afraid of sincere melodrama" and I think this monologue is very much the height of that. Although Ruhl preserves from the ancient myth the characters, setting, marriage, death, retrieval, and fatal retrospection, she does not include Orpheus songs of mourning and his subsequent dismemberment at the hands of the Thracian maidens. I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR MELODY! Harsh critics accuse Ruhl of murdering the myth: Until Sarah Ruhls Eurydice, I never saw a writer make such active efforts to snuff the life out of [a Greek myth] (Feingold 2007). The blue background you see is a close-up of a tile from a production of Eurydice at Second Stage, When he sees Eurydice at the water pump again, he tells her about the letter. He demands his wife, and the Lord of the Underworld states the condition of her return: Start walking home. The Lord of the Underworld, who is played by the same actor who plays The Nasty Interesting Man and has the same sexual aggressiveness, demands Eurydice marry him now that she has returned to the underworld. I don't know how to get them to you. A Chorus of Stones: Big Stone Little Stone Loud Stone. Let's go in the water. It had its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021. When the rainwater falls inside the elevator, the water washes away his memories of her, as water usually does for the dead. Take a look below at how you can enhance your show! ORPHEUS: Sarah also adapted the play into the libretto for an opera, Eurydice by Matthew Aucoin, which premiered at the L.A . World Premiere. Thus the Father escorts Eurydice, who is brave but then hesitates. By Sarah Ruhl. - Variety, "Touching, inventive, invigoratingly compact and luminously liquid in its rhythms and design, Eurydice reframes the ancient myth of ill-fated love to focus not on the bereaved musician but on his dead bride - and on her struggle with love beyond the grave as both wife and daughter." Nottage, however, learned she needed to open her play up to embrace the form; prose expanded to . Character: Sister James. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> Posted on 12 September 2017 at 11:13 (5 years ago). In Act Three, Orpheus arrives in the Underworld as Eurydice did, in the raining elevator (Figure 1). Its tension and void will collapse with the revelation that even the gift of speech and song is a prison house. Orpheus and Eurydice's walk out of the underworld is the plot of the Greek myth that inspires this play. [14] It ran at American Players Theatre (Spring Green, Wisconsin) under the direction of Tyne Rafaeli in June to October 2016. That's true. Your hair will stand on end as it plays my music and become a hair orchestra. Won't I fall down when the song ends? The first takes place only in the world above. Female monologues from published plays? Ching is wonderful with her sublime acting chops and successfully convincing as the . Shut up! Maybe you should make up your own thoughts. [email protected], 2022 Society for Classical Studies | Privacy Policy, Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl: The Power of Pretense, Outline of SCS Governance, Reports, and Official Statements, Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities (formerly Classics Everywhere), Careers for Classicists: Graduate Student Edition, Data and Reports from Professional Matters Division, List of CFPs, Society Announcements, and Other News, Recurring Programs and Publications in Classics, Handbook for Liberal Arts College Chairs and Directors of Undergraduate Classics Departments and Programs, Latin Teacher Certification Requirements (by US state), Careers for Classicists: Undergraduate Edition, Awards, Fellowships from US-based organizations, http://variety.com/2007/legit/reviews/eurydice-4-1200558476/. ORPHEUS: In case I come upon a broken instrument. Eurydice tries to reawaken her father by teaching him how to spell her name, but he is unconscious. The set contains a raining elevator, Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy Ive always hated you! He had Do you want more children, Elizabeth? She wants to speak but when she opens her mouth, only white noise comes out. EURYDICE: The lord of the underworld tells him that he may take Eurydice back, but only if he does not turn around to look at her. New York, NY, Linda Ray Text for monologue \"EURYDICE\" by --Sarah Ruhl below :))Orpheus never liked words. The Stones command that she keep walking, but she wants to go back to the Father. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Eurydice. A full list of Sarah Ruhl's plays. You know? an old-fashioned glow-in-the-dark globe. Their husbands talked too much. Eurydice had its world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin in 2003, after which is was performed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2004, and Yale Repertory Theatre in 2006, directed by Les Waters. He drops the letter, filled with platitudes for his daughter on her wedding day, into an imaginary mail slot. Start: Orpheus never liked words. The play consists of three movements, divided into numerous scenes: 7 in the first movement, 20 in the second movement, and 3 in the third movement. It has been staged at: Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, MarchApril 2008;[9] the Wilma Theater (Philadelphia), May 2008 (with original live music by Toby Twining;[10]) ACT Theatre in Seattle, SeptemberOctober 2008;[11] in October/November 2008 at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater;[12] at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland in 2009;[13] in Theatre Ink's 20102011 season;[citation needed] by the Custom Made Theatre Co. in San Francisco in 2013;[citation needed] and at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Hayward, California, in May/June 2013. He is happy when he sees Eurydice. Eurydice read like bundle of freely associating thoughts and tasted, on occasion, cloyingly maudlin. Eurydice - Play. Sarah Ruhl (1974-), born in Wilmette, Illinois, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005 and a MacArthur Foundation fellow in 2006. Ruhl made several changes to the original myth's story-line. Wrote her first play, The Dog Play, in Paula Vogel's class. When thou dost ask my blessing, Ill kneel down and ask of thee forgiveness; so well live, and pray and sing (Ruhl 2006, 377). The second and the third take place only in the underworld. Any suggestions? Where are you going to get twelve instruments? She may not be able to construct a play that conveys her every intentionespecially since the major premise is the incapacity of language. When Eurydice returns, her father is lying silent on the ground, having lost all of his language and memory forever. Still, the play is acclaimed as full of both woe and wonder, walking a tightrope between the mythic and the mundane (Lahr 2007). Inside his head there is always something more beautiful.Orpheus said the mind is a slide ruler. An archive of monologues that I have used or plan to use for auditions, and that you might find useful too. Samuel French, 2008. -. Show:EurydicePlaywright: Sarah RuhlStyle: ContemporaryGenre:DramedyLength:1-2 minutes, Character: EurydiceGender: FemaleAge: Teenager/Young Adult, Scene: Second Movement, Scene 16Setting:The String Room in the Underworld. directed by Les Waters and designed by Scott Bradley. I was afraid. Give him lots to eat. When are you going to play me the whole song? 2f, 5m. Here--clap it out. For Ruhl, in the theater space must yield to imagination, not, as in film, the other way around. Her Father InEurydice, Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. "Awash in a young writer's bracing, lucid 'Eurydice'", Review: 2004 production at Berkeley Repertory Theater, "Theater Review. Eurydice. He orders her to be his bride. Victoria Pagn, Professor of Classics at the University of Florida, is a Research Foundation Professor for 20142016 and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year for 2010. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual .