Black theatre review: Eurydice
Over the past two years ATC Theatre Company have created some award-winning work. From the Olivier-Award winning Gone too Far! by Bola Agbaje to the Oliver nominated and critically acclaimed The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the company have helped place Black Theatre well and truly on the map.
Their latest production is an American re-telling of a Greek myth and sees Eurydice (Ony Uhiara) fall to the Underworld on her wedding day. Whilst there, she re-connects with her father (Geff Francis) who died a few years before. But the pair are causing havoc to the guardian stones and their much preferred quiet life and continually request that the duo erase their memories to allow them to observe the Underworlds regulations. Unbeknownst to Eurydice her husband Orpheus (Osi Okerafor) is on his way to retrieve her but will the pair ever be reunited in the land of the living or is she destined to spend all of eternity without him?
The play is advertised as a ‘heart-breaking American take on a timeless tale of loss…’ however Eurydice failed to move me in the anticipated way and I left the theatre being unaffected by the characters and their predicament. I believe this may be due to the setting – in the Underworld and the use of characters and a plot that I neither empathised nor connected with. Furthermore Ruhl’s script lacked sufficient detail to allow the audience to view Eurydice, her father or even Orpheus as anymore more than two dimensional, unsympathetic characters.
The cast do the best that they can with the script but ultimately the only performance that really stood out for me was Rhys Rusbatch as the Lord of the Underworld. This is essentially due to the fact that his character was the most amusing and I enjoyed watching his peculiar ways and behavior. Director Bijan Sheibani has brought his trademark simplistic set to the production but with a script that already has limited character details I am not sure that this choice was an entirely successful one. That said it was never going to be easy to depict a play that includes books and letters flying through the air, elevators to the Underworld and fountains in the middle of a park.
Based upon their previous work, I had high expectations for ATC’s production of Eurydice. However with a script that failed to engage me an overall feeling of indifferent towards Eurydice and her plight, I regret to say that I was left somewhat underwhelmed.
Eurydice
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Bijan Sheibani
Young Vic Theatre: 29th April – 5th June 2010
Cast includes: Ony Uhiara, Rhys Rusbatch, Osi Okerafor and Geff Francis
Zero stars. You put as politely and respectfully as possible the simple fact that this play was AWFUL. I laughed in bewilderment for almost the whole duration. I agree that the Lord of the Underworld was the only workable part of the script. If he had played every character himself, I’m sure it would have been better. It was disappointing.