Eurydice

Eurydice is a 2003 play by Sarah Ruhl which retells the myth of Orpheus from the perspective of Eurydice, his wife. 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). Ruhl made several changes to the original myth's story-line. The most noticeable of these changes was that in the myth Orpheus succumbs to his desires and looks back at Eurydice, while in Ruhl's version Eurydice calls out to Orpheus (causing him to look back) perhaps in part because of her fear of reentering the world of the living and perhaps as a result of her desire to remain in the land of the dead with her father. Ruhl's script has been explicitly written so as to be a playground for the designer of the sets. The play was adapted by Ruhl for the libretto of an opera by the same name, with music composed by Matthew Aucoin, and directed by Mary Zimmerman. Eurydice premiered in Los Angeles in February 2020 and at the Metropolitan Opera on November 23, 2021. Its opening at the Met was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Productions The play had its world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin, in September 2003. The play next was produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California, in October to November 14, 2004. Directed by Les Waters, Associate Artistic Director, the cast featured Maria Dizzia as Eurydice and Daniel Talbott as Orpheus. It next was presented at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, in September 2006 to October 14, directed by Les Waters, with Maria Dizzia (Eurydice) and Joseph Parks (Orpheus). The play opened Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, running from June 18 to August 26, 2007. Directed by Les Waters, the cast featured Maria Dizzia as Eurydice, Joseph Parks as Orpheus, and Charles Shaw Robinson as Eurydice's Father. The play received several award nominations, including the 2008 Drama League Award, Distinguished Production of a Play, and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Set Design of a Play, (Scott Bradley). Charles Isherwood, reviewing for The New York Times, called it a "weird and wonderful new play."