Sarah Ruhl’s new adaptation of Eurydice is too whimsical to convince at Jermyn Street Theatre
“Everything in moderation”
The enduring popularity of Greek mythology means that we’re never far from a new adaptation of it and much in line with how things were back then, this can be both a blessing and a curse. Sarah Ruhl deciding to refocus the story of Orpheus and Eurydice on its heroine in Eurydice feels like a fascinating experiment; at the same time, it is taking place in, and thus competing with, the shadow of Hadestown just up the road and the effervescent Kaos on Netflix (even if it has been prematurely cancelled).
Aiming for wit and whimsy and with not just a little magical realism, Ruhl and director Stella Powell-Jones go big on imagination but in a way that feels insubstantial. The relationship presented here between Keaton Guimarães-Tolley’s Orpheus and Eve Ponsonby’s Eurydice is far from essential, born of infatuation rather than emotional intensity which kinda flies in the face of the gravity of the decision he has to make after her untimely passing. He’s not even much a musician here either, another in a long line of puzzling decisions.
The figure of Eurydice’s father (Dickon Tyrell) is introduced, ostensibly to expand the notions of love being explored here but in reality detracting from what was meant to be the new focus. The Lord of the Underworld is an overgrown schoolboy. There’s a chorus of three stones. It’s all a bit skewwhiff and for me, it didn’t really work, it didn’t bring anything new to an already familiar world. Tina Torbey’s set and Carmel Smickersgill sound designs are both excellently transportative though.
