The Greeks are in town. Hadestown and Oedipus are in the West End, and Medea, Sappho, and Antigone have appeared on the fringe.
The tragic story of Orpheus and Eurydice has stood up to numerous interpretations over the years, in theatre, ballet, and on film. It is a tale of trust, longing, and loss, a tale of always looking ahead.
For the intimate setting of Jermyn Street Theatre, writer Sarah Ruhl and director Stella Powell-Jones have created a simple version of the story with moments that soar and others that teeter on the edge of the river.
When we first meet Eurydice (a vibrant Eve Ponsonby), she’s being wooed by romantic dreamer and musician Orpheus (Keaton Guimaraes-Tolley). He offers her music and his undying love, which quickly progresses to marriage.
This isn’t a feminist reading of the play. Orpheus is just a heartbeat from rushing his preferred mate into wedlock, while Joe Wiltshire Smith (billed as ‘A Nasty Interesting Man’ plays a lowlife sexual harasser who us later revealed to be Hades himself, Lord if the Underworld.
Letters are important in this retelling, as one from Eurydice’s father, trapped in the land of the dead where no one speaks, sets off Eurydice’s own departure underground.
Played by Dickon Tyrell with great understanding and emotional impact, he pines for his daughter against the rules and cares for her when she arrives.
These tender moments are rather split by a bickering chorus of three Stones (Leyon Stolz-Hunter, Tom Morley, Katy Brittain), who, rather than commenting on the action simply seek to interrupt it.
As for the Lord himself, the decision to show him as a creepy and petulant schoolboy in his domain just doesn’t work. Hades needs to have either a sensual charm or prime Alpha machismo, and this one has neither.
Tina Torbey’s set allows for some repurposing of furniture, hidden storage, and appearance at one point of a volume of Shakespeare’s plays. Carmel Smickersgill’s sound adds layers of atmosphere to the production.
At 80 minutes, this is an Eurydice that has elements of magic and of the children’s fairytale. What it lacked for me was a coherent expression of a love between two people worth dying for, and worth trying for.
***
Eurydice is at Jermyn Street Theatre until 9 Nov with tickets here.
Image credit: Alex Brenner