Eurydice Extended Essay PDF

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Final extended essay in theater on the play Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl...

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An Examination of the Staging of Eurydice as Informed by Ruhl’s Use of a Female Perspective How does Ruhl’s emphasis on the female perspective of Eurydice inform the performance and production elements of her play Eurydice? Group 6: Theater Word Count: 3876 Personal Code: fqr018

Table of Contents Introduction: How a Playwright’s Perspective is Essential in a Director Coming Up with His/Her Concept Page 2 Research Question: How does the female perspective of Ruhl’s protagonist, Eurydice, influence the staging and production of her play Eurydice? Ruhl’s Adaptation of the Original Myth and How she Shifts the Story by Changing the Protagonist to a Woman Page 3 Ruhl’s Interpretation of the Underworld and How it Highlights Eurydice’s Female Perspective through Lighting, Costuming and Sound Page 4 Ruhl’s use of a Perspective Shift and How the General Aesthetics of the Play Emphasize Eurydice’s Female Perspective Page 7 Ruhl’s Interpretation of the Lord of the Underworld and how his Infantilization Illustrates Eurydice’s Female Perspective Page 9 Ruhl’s Focus on Eurydice’s Relationship with her Father and How this Shows the Utilization of Eurydice’s Female Perspective to Inform the Staging Page 11 Conclusion

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An Examination of the Staging of Eurydice as Informed by Ruhl’s Use of a Female Perspective Due to a shifting focus on female protagonists in theater, more and more playwrights and directors have chosen to adapt traditional stories in order to focus on a female character. As a young female artist, this growing interest into female characters has been especially important as it allows an audience to hear the voice of a character who may have been lost in the background previously. Sarah Ruhl, is an American contemporary playwright who wrote the play Eurydice as an ode to her dying father as well as her inspiration to examine a character who is often neglected in both theater and literature1. Her play, Eurydice, tells the story of a girl who is separated from her husband, Orpheus, on her wedding day and is brought to the Underworld, where she has the chance to reconnect with her deceased father. Ruhl uses her theatrical adaptation of the myth as an opportunity to examine how looking at the story from the perspective of the female protagonist, Eurydice, changes the play and its implications. Whilst reading the play and examining different productions of it, many questions arose. The primary question, however, was: How does Ruhl’s emphasis on the female perspective of Eurydice inform the performance and production elements of her play Eurydice? When conducting research, it was easiest to focus on how Eurydice’s perspective changes different thematic aspects of the play, and thus this transferred over to how the research essay is structured. During the research process I gathered theatrical reviews of production, images of past productions and videos in order to collect evidence of how the female perspective was used to inform the staging of the play in the four key themes I had distinguished. The implications of this change in perspective are important due to the rising focus on women in society, as showcased by the modern feminist movement occurring now, thus sparking an interest in how women are being portrayed in theater. Therefore, through examining different productions of Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl it is evident how directors can use Ruhl’s focus on Eurydice’s female perspective to 1 "Sarah Ruhl." Yale School of Drama, Yale University, drama.yale.edu/facstaff/sarah-ruhl. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 2

influence the performance and production elements of a production in order to highlight her perspective to the audience.

Ruhl’s Adaptation of the Original Myth to Highlight the Female Perspective A play’s cultural context is vital for a director to understand when developing a performance concept for a production, and it is imperative that the director respects the themes, ideas, and mandated aspects of the script. Anne Bogart stated in her book, A Director Prepares, “inside every good play lives a question. A great play asks big questions that endure through time”2. Therefore it is crucial that in staging Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, directors comprehend the cultural context and how the original myth differs from Ruhl’s contemporary perspective, otherwise it would be impossible to develop a performance concept that remains true to her play. The earliest accounts of the ancient greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is from around 530 B.C. The myth was originally told as a love story where the man, Orpheus, must rescue his love Eurydice3. In ancient tellings of the myth, Orpheus is portrayed as a legendary hero who was endowed with superhuman musical skills4. Overall, the original myth is centered around Orpheus’s journey to save his love, Eurydice, from the Underworld. The Ancient Greek version of the myth focuses on the perspective of Orpheus and the way in which he has behaved like a hero and how the gods have praised him for both his unique talent of music, but also his bravery on his quest to save his wife. It is important to note that although Sarah Ruhl has focused on the same myth in her play Eurydice, she has chosen to accentuate a change in perspective and thus examines Eurydice’s perspective of the same story. As opposed to looking at Eurydice’s relationship with Orpheus, Sarah Ruhl centers her play around the relationship between Eurydice and her father, as the play was written shortly after Ruhl’s own father died of bone

2 Bogart, Anne. A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theater. Taylor & Francis, 2001 3 "Orpheus and Eurydice." Greeka, www.greeka.com/greece-myths/orpheus-eurydice.htm. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 4 "Orpheus." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 May 2013, www.britannica.com/topic/Orpheus- Greekmythology. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.

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cancer5. Thus, when NextStop Theater staged a production of Eurydice, the director made sure to feature the sensitive and intimate relationship between Eurydice and her father through performance and production elements6. For example, the director of this production chose to use an acting style similar to that of Stanislavski’s Method, which uses emotional recall to develop an authentic interpretation of the characters in Ruhl’s play to call attention to their vulnerabilities. The addition of Eurydice’s father as a character, constitutes one of the main differences between the original myth and Ruhl’s play such that it is an aspect that, as a director, is important to highlight. Therefore as a director when developing a performance and production concept for Ruhl’s play Eurydice, it is vital to understand the differences between the original myth and the modern perspective Ruhl adopts in order for her key themes and ideas to be illustrated in the staging.

Ruhl’s Female Interpretation of the Underworld and its Impact on Staging Throughout the play, Ruhl’s use of a female perspective informs the production elements that aid in creating the Underworld’s highly feminine aesthetic, linking to the themes of the play being seen through the eyes of a woman. More specifically, the domestication of the Underworld through specific production elements such as lighting, costume and set develop an atmosphere that enhances the feminine aspects of the play. In a production done by The University of Iowa in 2010, as Eurydice comes down the elevator when entering the Underworld, the main spectacle of the play, she is dressed in all white, holding a blue umbrella, and is surrounded by bright yellow flower petals7. Ruhl specifically mandates that “she carries a suitcase and an umbrella” and “she is dressed in the kind of 1930s suit that women wore when they eloped”8 to 5 "Eurydice (Play) Content & Analysis." Stage Agent, stageagent.com/shows/play/1252/eurydice/context. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 6 Wren, Celia. "A Graceful Staging of Sarah Ruhls ‘Eurydice  at NextStop Theatre." The Washington Post [Washington DC], 2 Nov.2016,www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/theater-dance/a-graceful-staging-of-sarah-ruhls-eurydice-at-nextstoptheatre Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 7 "Archive of Eurydice." College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Theater Arts, U of Iowa, Feb. 2010, theatre.uiowa.edu/production /past-shows/archive-eurydice.Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 8 Ruhl, Sarah. Eurydice. Samuel French, 2003.

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create a blueprint that directors must follow to maximise the effect of her female perspective in informing the production elements. Through surrounding Eurydice by objects that are typically deemed as beautiful and delicate the audience is able to see the Underworld through Eurydice’s eyes when she sees it for the first time. As opposed to focusing on the aspects of the setting that might be frightening, the director of the production has chosen to showcase the beautiful aspects of the setting, similarly to how it is commonly believed that women in society often notice the details in their surroundings more often than men do. Additionally, flowers are often associated with femininity and womanhood and are also a symbol of purity, and thus they have been utilized by the director in order to illustrate to the audience that the world is being seen through the eyes of Eurydice. A production done by Second Stage Theater in the summer of 2007, shows Eurydice greeted by the stones as she descends from the elevator, dressed in elaborate costumes with great attention to detail in every stitch and seam9. As stated previously, due to the fact that women often pay closer attention to detail, the use of the detailed costumes of the stones emphasizes the portrayal of the Underworld through Eurydice’s female perspective. Eurydice’s character initially seeks comfort in the stones upon her arrival in the Underworld, despite their inability to portray emotion and provide support. The NextStop Theater production in 2016, demonstrates their inability to give Eurydice any comfort through the cool blue tones of the lighting that they are introduced in.10 The cool lighting also serves to develop an eery tone to the scene and create moments of tension within the production. Eurydice’s attention to detail and her emotional reaction to the stones appearing intimidating to her, helps audiences comprehend the depiction of the Underworld through her perspective. Furthermore, the “train whistle11” mandated by Ruhl in her script, and the platform that Eurydice sees when entering the Underworld shows her desperate attempts to relate her setting to something she 9 Isherwood, Charles. "The Power of Memory to Triumph over Death." The New York Times [New York], 19 June 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/theater/reviews/19seco.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 10 Wren, Celia. "A Graceful Staging of Sarah Ruhls ‘Eurydice at NextStop Theatre." The Washington Post [Washington DC], 2 Nov. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/theater-dance/ a-graceful-staging-of-sarah-ruhls-eurydice-atnextstop- theatre/.Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 11 Ruhl, Sarah. Eurydice. Samuel French, 2003.

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can understand such as a train station. The use of the sound effect can be used by directors to fully transport the audience into the Underworld in a way that allows them to empathize with Eurydice and maintain the idea that audiences are following her complex perspective of the world around her. Lastly, The Second Stage Theater production has the Underworld decorated in walls that are covered in floral wallpaper12 which aims to illustrate Eurydice’s perspective to the audience as opposed to what the Underworld may look like in the eyes of Orpheus. The femininity that is associated by flowers, again, aids in portraying Eurydice’s female perspective through the use of production elements. Hence, Eurydice’s perspective informs the way in which the underworld is conveyed to the audience through production elements in a way that romanticizes it and makes it appear increasingly feminine which contrasts how the play would be staged if it were from the perspective of Orpheus. Ruhl’s use of Eurydice’s female perspective informs the way in which the Underworld is staged, however, the female aspects of the production can also be seen in the general aesthetics of a production of Eurydice.

The Effect of Eurydice’s Perspective on the General Aesthetics of a Production In Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, Ruhl’s use of the female perspective of the play informs the general aesthetics of the lighting and costuming of a production to create a world that is explicitly feminine. The female aesthetics of the play are first seen after Eurydice and Orpheus have been married and there is a party for them. In the Outcry Theater production of Eurydice in 2016, Eurydice is dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown and dances barefoot with Orpheus in celebration of her marriage13. The director’s decision of using a white dress and barefeet as her costume calls attention to her youthful innocence as a character as well as the female aesthetics of the staging. The scenic design of this production keeps the wedding minimalistic 12 Isherwood, Charles. "The Power of Memory to Triumph over Death." The New York Times [New York], 19 June 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/theater/reviews/19seco.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017 13 Grafrath, Gabrielle. Production Photos - Eurydice. 2016. www.outcrytheatre.com/productionphotosoyt.html#Eurydice. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.

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but still highlights the feminine aspects of the production elements, such as her wedding dress and Orpheus’s costume to show the way in which Eurydice is seeing the world around her. Additionally, the Outcry Theater production uses a soft pink lighting around Orpheus and Eurydice during their wedding scene, as well as a cyc light upstage of them that also reflects this color. The lighting of the party further displays the feminine aspects of the staging to communicate Eurydice’s perspective, as the color pink is often associated with girls and young women. Furthermore, the lighting of the party amplifies the costume decision of the director as the soft pink light reflects off of the white dress Eurydice is dressed in and causes her to stand out to the audience. Overall this shows Eurydice’s perspective of the scene as many of the feminine and beautiful aspects are emphasized through the staging, as opposed to bringing other aspects of the scene to the foreground that a man might notice more. A production staged by Chapman University in 2015, dresses Eurydice in a white dress with lace detailing, a full skirt and many layers of frills in order to call attention to her youthful femininity14. The attention to detail in Eurydice’s costuming must be recognized by directors in order to convey Eurydice’s femininity and showcase the way her perspective is used by Ruhl. The female aesthetics of the play can also be seen through Eurydice’s costume in other scenes of the play as in most productions of the play her costuming is used to directly depict her femininity. For example, when Eurydice enters the Underworld in the Second Stage Theater production she is dressed in a pink fitted jacket and a long pink skirt, with the color being used, again, to enhance the femininity she represents to the audience15. This, in turn, illustrates the director’s utilization of her female perspective to inform the production elements within the production. In the University of Iowa production, Eurydice is dressed in a white knit sweater and a white tank top embroidered with beads, paired with a pale yellow skirt16. This costuming of Eurydice 14 "Eurydice (November 2015)." Digital Commons, Chapman University, Nov. 2015,digitalcommons.chapman.edu/eurydice/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 15 Isherwood, Charles. "The Power of Memory to Triumph over Death." The New York Times [New York], 19 June 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/theater/reviews/19seco.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 16 "Archive of Eurydice." College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Theater Arts, U of Iowa, Feb. 2010,theatre.uiowa.edu/production /past-shows/archive-eurydice.Accessed 1 Oct. 2017. 7

accentuates her innocence as well as her femininity to reveal to the audience how and why they are experiencing the play through her perspective. Thus the utilization of Eurydice’s female perspective, informs the staging and production elements of the play, and the overall aesthetics of the play are shifted away from how the traditional myth is portrayed due to Ruhl’s shift in perspective. This is vital for directors to understand when staging Ruhl’s play because if Eurydice’s perspective is lost, all of the key themes and ideas that she focuses on also become lost. Whilst the female perspective is of Eurydice is used to inform production elements that create a general aesthetic, Ruhl also illustrates the utilization of Eurydice’s perspective in infantilizing the Lord of the Underworld.

The Infantilization of the Lord of the Underworld as Informed by Eurydice’s Perspective The Lord of the Underworld in Eurydice is repeatedly infantilized through dramatic conventions in order to convey a female perspective to the audience, emphasizing how Ruhl’s focus on Eurydice’s perspective is used to inform the staging. When Eurydice first meets the Lord of the Underworld inside the confines of the Underworld he is placed on a red tricycle that is too small for him, as mandated by Ruhl in her stage directions. Ruhl also states in her script that, “his clothes and his hat are too small for him”17. Through making the Lord of the Underworld, a character who was originally meant to be frightening and unappealing, appear as a foolish child, Ruhl underlines the use of Eurydice’s perspective in the telling of the play. In doing so, the audience is able to see the Lord of the Underworld in the way Eurydice sees him, as it is commonly believed in society that girls mature faster than boys and thus view them as being younger and more infantile. The Berkeley Theater Repertory production in 2004 demonstrates the way in which the Lord of the Underworld is used by Ruhl to both mock evil 17 Ruhl, Sarah. Eurydice. Samuel French, 2003. 8

and depict the way oblivion can appear seductive18. Thus using production elements such as costume and prop can be used to elucidate Eurydice’s perspective as she sees the Lord of the Underworld as someone who is not intimidating, but should be, in a way that becomes inherently comedic. Additionally, in using the stage property of a red tricycle and a costume that is mandated to be exaggeratedly small the fear that should be associated with the character is abolished and is replaced by comedy. A director’s utilization of these production elements can enhance the fact that the play is seen through the eyes of Eurydice as it is made clear she is unafraid of him. The dramatic conventions simultaneously enrich Eurydice’s character and the use of her perspective in informing the performance and production concepts as it shows how Eurydice sees the Underworld as a playground for the Lord of the Underworld. If a director is able to stage this effectively it would further illustrate Eurydice’s female gaze in addition to her femininity and innocence as a protagonist. If Orpheus’s male perspective were utilized, the Lord of the Underworld may be depicted as more threatening and aggressive in order to highlight Orpheus’s role as a hero when he defeats the Lord of the Underworld, the way it appears in the myth. However, through removing the aspect of fear in Eurydice’s perspective audiences are made increasingly aware of this change in perspective. For example in the Chapman University production of Eurydice, the Lord of the Underworld also called “A Child,” appears on stage dressed in exaggeratedly short plaid shorts, a white shirt with a blue tie, plaid knee socks, sneakers and a tight blue blazer19. This costuming decision closely resembles a school uniform, which continues the narrative Ruhl creates that makes the Lord of the Underworld into a child that is significantly younger than Eurydice, which in turn makes him unthreatening. Hence this shows the use of Eurydice’s perspective in informing the staging of Ruhl’s play as it shows how Eurydice feels superior and mo...