Stage Review - Eurydice (Bainbridge Performing Arts)

Stage Review - Eurydice
Presented By: Bainbridge Performing Arts - Bainbridge Island, WA
Show Run: March 07 - March 23, 2025
Date Reviewed: Saturday, March 08, 2025 (Opening Weekend)
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15 minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

It’s rare that there are two shows occurring on stages simultaneously in the region that are so beautifully designed, so phenomenally exquisite in their design and delivery that to experience them is akin to standing in a museum and taking in the most surreal and impressive works of art.  If you read my review for Tacoma Little Theatre’s Lorca in a Green Dress (https://www.thesoundonstage.org/stage-reviews/stage-review-lorca-in-a-green-dress-tacoma-little-theatre), you’ll recall its ethereal quality, its depiction of the afterlife as a poetic plane of consciousness in which the Spanish poet Lorca is meant to spend the time subsequent to his death pondering it and the events of his life which ultimately led up to it, the goal being to ascend to a higher plane.  Crossing the Narrows bridge and heading to the far side of the Kitsap Peninsula, you’ll find a production that is just as ethereal in nature, also a tale of the afterlife, in this case the underworld of Greek mythology, and a piece that is as wispy, as beautifully presented, and as tragic a story as Lorca’s.  Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and his new bride, is the latest to take the stage at Bainbridge Performing Arts‘ Buxton Center on Bainbridge Island, and is a brilliant production directed by Christen Muir, running through March 23, and just like TLT’s Lorca in a Green Dress it is a 5-star must see show.

The show feels like quite a departure for BPA, for a number of reasons.  First, it’s a mainstage show, but it feels extremely intimate.  At the same time, it’s much bigger from a design perspective. Sarah Ruhl’s script allows for a lot of latitude and creativity with regards to set design, and Christen and scenic designer Matthew Lazure take full advantage by opening up the curtain on the stage and widening the presentation area, using as much as possible without bleeding into the wings.  The ethereal nature of the play, in its design, relies on a lot of set pieces that aren’t literal, including extremely creative uses of ropes, ladders, and other prop devices, including umbrellas, suitcases, and something that is a nice touch of detail, a wash tub with running water.  The wispiness of the set is managed by the translucent curtains descending from above the stage, which perform double-duty as screens for Matt Longmire’s projections, also nicely presented.  Honestly, it’s pretty close to a masterpiece from a creative point of view, there’s not a single aspect that doesn’t excel.  This includes Rob Falk’s lighting, which creates an underworld that’s dark and foreboding, a sense of it being underwater, his use of spotlights to follow actors through the darkness, and perhaps the most interesting, to me at least, his use of silhouette and shadow puppetry to complement the storytelling.  Then there’s a scene in which Orpheus is walking, followed on the path by Euryice that is so beautifully lit, accentuated with a fog like mist, it’s the ultimate display of that ethereal quality I mentioned above, it’s a critical part of the story, and the creative team brings so much to it.  At the same time, Andrew Joslyn and his sound design is just flat out perfect.  There’s always a low hum underscoring what is happening on stage, providing a sense of underlying doom, mixed in with the ambience of this hell, dripping water, creaks and moans, all seamlessly integrated with the score that Andrew composed for this piece, which is wonderful on its own.  All of these components together make for a top notch design, one that flows from the stage, painted to look weathered and worn, to Tianxing Yan’s costumes, artistic achievements on their own.

If you’re not familiar with the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, it’s easy to find online, but Sarah Ruhl has adapted it through a different lens.  In the traditional story, the pair get married, and Eurydice dies on their wedding day by stepping on a snake, or by getting bitten by a snake, depending on the version.  Orpheus, determined to get her back, finds his way to the underworld, strikes a deal with Hades, a deal that has him walking back to the world of the living, with the condition that he not look back, that he trust Hades in his word that Eurydice will be right behind him.  Should he turn around and see her on the way back, she will be sent back to her doom.  Sarah Ruhl wrote this play from the perspective of Eurydice, rather than from that of Orpheus, so in this, we follow her path into her marriage, her meeting the “Nasty Interesting Man” as the program lists him, the snake of this story, and her descent into the underworld, where she meets her father, one of the few remaining souls who still knows how to read and write, as that is what allows him to remember.  In fact, it’s knowing and recognizing the names of people that allows memory in this afterlife.  When Eurydice descends, she knows nothing, remembers nothing, but when she receives a letter from the living, from Orpheus, and her father helps her recognize the name of the sender, it all comes flooding back.  The story follows the general plot of the Orpheus story, but it’s a refreshing new perspective, and while it is, in fact, a Greek tragedy, it is at its heart a story of love, loss, and memory. And like all of Sarah Ruhl’s work, it’s crafted poetically, the dialogue is smooth and flowing, didactic but not preachy, and most importantly sincere. It’s also nice to see the playwright having a moment in the region, with her Letters from Max on stage at Seattle Public Theatre through March 23 (https://www.thesoundonstage.org/stage-reviews/stage-review-letters-from-max-seattle-public-theatre).

This beautifully produced work of art is made all the better by the group of actors that Christen has cast. With this version of the Orpheus myth told from the perspective of Eurydice, the weight of the piece is borne by Emily Kay Townsend in the lead role, and she’s stunning. As Eurydice, Emily is giddy with love for Orpheus, played very well by Reed Viydo, even as self-absorbed as he is with his music, while she can’t carry a tune. It’s a love that is true, that follows her down to the underworld, and one that turns out to be her undoing. But she’s also young and naive. When she’s approached on her wedding day by this strange figure (Ted Dowling) who claims to have a letter from her father, her father who is deceased, she follows him back to his apartment with just the promise of its existence. Eurydice falls to her death and descends to the underworld, and arrives there without her memory. Greeted there by her father (Mel Carson), he recognizes her, though she has no idea who he is, which is explained to him by the three stones, the Big Stone (Laurel Marlantes), the Little Stone (Kate Melia), and the Loud Stone (Katrina Mattson), explaining that she doesn’t speak his language, rather he needs to communicate with her in the language of stones, which he does to help build as much of a relationship as he can until he helps get her memory back. Emily is sweet as Orpheus’ lover, then his wife, and she adds that tinge of naïveté nicely. But her performance in the underworld, as the confused newcomer, and then building her memories with her father, and finally as she wrestles with whether she wants to stay with her father and the relationship she has built with him or go back to Orpheus and the land of the living, that’s when she’s at her absolutely best. Emily also brings a good chemistry with those she shares the stage with, whether it be Reed as Orpheus or Mel as her father. Reed is a good Orpheus, he easily gets lost in his own thoughts, but he clearly loves Eurydice, it’s just that he can only give so much of himself. Orpheus’ determination to get his wife back is well played and and his role in the tragedy is heartbreak at its most painful, and the pair’s demonstration of this in a scene when they walk away from each other to accept their individual fates is the most emotional scene in this show. Mel’s portrayal of Eurydice’s father is just as good, looked upon in the underworld as a “subversive” because he doesn’t want to play by the rules, he doesn’t want to forget, and the love he has for his daughter drives all of this. His is an extremely solid performance, and his role in the tragedy is excruciating.

For every protagonist, of course there has to be an equal and opposite antagonist, and in this case it’s Ted Dowling, first as that “Nasty Interesting Man”, the snake in the proverbial woodpile, and later as the ruler of the underworld. His ultimate goal, in both cases, is to uproot Eurydice’s life, claiming to be the man she needs, and asking her to dispatch the man she wants. And he’s willing to do anything about it. Ted is funny, spooky, and ultimately mysterious in these dual roles, he brings an eccentricity to it, a craziness if you will, and makes this an ultimately memorable performance. The cast is filled out by the stones, a trio of characters that remind me in this story of a combination of the Three Fates in Greek Mythology, those responsible for spinning, measuring, and cutting the threads of life, and the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. They seem to be the overseers of the underworld here, those who enforce the rules set forth by Hades, and their work is performance theatre personified. They speak in dissonance, in harmony, and in sync when they need to, and they seem to float across the stage, I love their movement, choreographed by Abby Rappaport, it’s artistry in motion. Laurel, Kate, and Katrina are superb here, and like the rest of the cast, it’s clear how well prepared they are, all of the aspects of their characterizations are performed with pinpoint precision.

Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice and currently on stage at Bainbridge Performing Arts’ Buxton Center, is a three dimensional work of art. From a creative team, led by director Christen Muir, that has taken full advantage of the latitude given it within Ruhl’s script to construct a stunningly ethereal scenic design with unique set pieces, complemented with an original score composed by Andrew Joslyn, and a cast that gorgeously brings this story to life, Eurydice is a must-see, and is the best thing the theatre has put up on their main stage this season.

 Eurydice, produced by Bainbridge Performing Arts, runs through March 23 on Bainbridge Island. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org/.

Photo credit: Adam Othman