Words vs. Music

 

Orpheus loves music. There’s no doubt about it. Every time Eurydice asks him what’s on his mind, he is thinking about music. He’s a musician; it’s what he does.

Eurydice loves books and words. She likes to mull over the opinions of others and think through arguments. She likes interesting new things. She likes to hear stories. Nothing wrong with that.

They’re two nice people, ridiculously good-looking, and they’re in love. So what’s the problem? Well… they have two different ways of looking at the world. Orpheus is more concrete; more black and white. Things are just how he sees them. Eurydice sees more possibilities; more options. Even this wouldn’t be a problem, except that when Orpheus looks at Eurydice, he only sees music. At best, he’s uninterested and at worst, uncomfortable with her love of language. He tries to change the subject – back to music.

From almost the very first page of the script, Orpheus tries to make Eurydice over into how he sees her. He tries to teach her his melodies. He says he’s going to turn every strand of her hair into an instrument to play his music. He pesters her to practice and remember his melodies. If he weren’t so darn adorable, I’m sure she’d notice that he’s a tad controlling.

Throughout her play, Sarah Ruhl uses music and words to play out the relationships and story line. Language plays a big role in remembering in the Underworld and building the relationship between Eurydice and her Father. The power of Orpheus’ music is how he gets into the Underworld… almost. Actually it’s the power of his music and Eurydice’s name. To successfully reach Eurydice, he had to utilize both; he had to sing her name.

After Eurydice makes her choice to stay and they are saying goodbye, he brings up again her appalling lack of rhythm – spelling out the ways she did not measure up to his ideal. In the very end, I think he starts to get it. He calls out, “Will you talk to me!”[i]By then it is too late.

Orpheus came to find Eurydice with music – his music. I wonder… would he have succeeded if he found her with words?

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[i] Ruhl, Sarah. Eurydice. New York: Samuel French, 2008. Print.

More dramatic film goodbyes

Now Voyager must hold the record for the most dramatic goodbyes in a single movie. Here's one by train:

(Ah, the noble affair - one that is good for everyone!)

And here's one by plane:

(The real trick is smoking and kissing through a veil! I guess that was the ultimate cool in the 40's.)

These aren't even all the goodbyes in this film - you'll have to watch it to get the rest.

Modern-day Myths in Eurydice

The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is not the only myth Sarah Ruhl tackles in Eurydice; she also takes on some modern-day myths. I believe that the 1950’s setting of the script is very significant. There is a definite look at gender roles in Eurydice and what better decade to revel in gender myths than the 50’s. Let’s look at some advertisements from that period to see what kind of modern-day myths we find:

Smoking is not that bad for you, in fact, it doctor endorsed.

DDT makes for happy, healthy people, animals and veggies.

If you want to be a good parent, give your baby a healthy start with soda.

Now let’s look specifically at ads about women:

Women should be domestic angel by day…

…and alluring sex goddess by night.

Women are overly emotional, not to mention incompetent.

Women are weak.

Women are (and I quote) “useful – even pleasant [indoors, but]

on a mountain they are something of a drag.”

Women are happiest when housekeeping.

Never mind that Mornidine, a morning sickness medicine, caused babies to be born without arms and legs; at least Father didn’t have to struggle with the percolator.

Is there any doubt what makes an ideal woman?

I think these ads speak for themselves. Isn’t it nice we’ve come so far…

…or have we?

(a contemporary ad for Gucci)

Ruhl is speaking to these issues that still shape our society. By giving Eurydice a voice and a choice (two things she’s traditionally robbed of in the story,) and by setting her journey against the backdrop of the 1950’s, I think Ruhl has plenty to say.

Never Look Back (The Gaze - Part II)

There’s been some pretty famous looks in history:

One look at the snake-haired Medusa would turn you to stone.

One look at Helen of Troy’s beauty would launch a thousand ships.

In Hollywood, the on- and off-screen pair of Bogart and Bacall’s looks smoldered,

“Here’s looking at you kid.”

And who could forget Zoolander’s epic Magnum?

 – eclipsed only by Orpheus’s look for sheer power and effect.

With just one look, he relegates Eurydice to the Underworld forever.

Such an ill-fated look is found elsewhere in stories. There are a whole bunch of stories where people are told not to look. Psyche, in Greek mythology, is told she has to marry a monster, but must never look at him when he comes to her in the night. The same thing happens in a Norse tale called East of the Sun and West of the Moon, except this girl has to marry a great white bear.

In both stories, the girls bow to family pressure and take a candle and look. They both see magnificent men and accidentally drop three drops of wax on their husband’s bodies. Their enchanted husbands have to leave the girls who looked. After arduous journeys, both girls win back their husbands and break their enchantments. The stories don’t always end so happily…

In The Crane Wife, a Japanese man is married to a woman who is really a crane who weaves her own feathers into exquisite sails for the man to sell. When he breaks his vow never to look while she is weaving, she flies away forever.

Perhaps one of the most ill-fated looks of all time was that of Lot’s wife in the Bible. Her family is commanded to leave the wicked city of Sodom before the Lord destroys it and to never look back. She looks… and is turned into a pillar of salt. Pretty harsh for one look, but perhaps it wasn’t what was in the look, but what was in her heart.

Lot’s Wife pillar on Mount Sodom, Israel

The message in all these ill-fated looks seems to be Never Look Back. What’s done is done; what’s dead is dead; it’s time to move forward.

The Japanese myth of Izanami is very similar to Orpheus and Eurydice. She dies and her husband, Izanagi braves a journey to the underworld to retrieve her. While there, he takes his light and looks at her sleeping. He sees her rotting flesh crawling with vile creatures and he runs away in terror. She wakes and in fury gives chase. Izanagi barely escapes the underworld alive.

Ruhl’s Eurydice is full of people looking back. The Father lives in a world of past memories; Eurydice is conflicted about leaving her father for Orpheus and Orpheus can’t seem to move on after Eurydice’s death. No one seems to be able to learn that:

To look back is death, to look forward is life.
The past is to be learned from but not lived in.

New Clip: Father of the Bride

The original Father of the Bride (1950) with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor is a wonderful movie. The following clip is a little long, but watch the wedding scene (about 3 minutes in) to see not only a classic example of a 1950's dream wedding, but a classic example of a conflicted father figure. The same love triangle we see in Eurydice exists here:

Calling all Hepcats!

Do you have to jitterbeg in Eurydice? Don't know how? Not to worry, just follow this simple instructional video and you'll be jivin' in no time!

More Clips: The Ideal Woman

These clips are full of lots of handy tips!

Pleasantville, 1998

Harry Enfield Television Programme, 1990

Are You Popular? 1947

And now a word of warning to the less-than-ideal:



More Famous Goodbyes

Brief Encounter, 1945

Casablanca, 1942

An Affair to Remember, 1957

More clips: Orpheus lassos the moon

Lovers often promise the sun, moon and stars. It happens in Eurydice and a whole lot of other places...

It's a Wonderful Life, 1946

Ah, young love... but what of mature, self-sacrificing love? No body does it better than Bette Davis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8

(It won't let me load for some reason)

Synopsis: Late bloomer spinster Bette, falls in love with unhappy married man.

They can't have each other, but she can find some happiness raising his daughter.

It's a twisted tale, but on the American Film Institutes 100 most passionate film list.

The Gaze: Of Seeing and Being Seen

Orpheus gazes at Eurydice

The Gaze – it’s the climactic moment – when Orpheus turns and looks at Eurydice and seals her fate forever. Why did he turn? Could he not wait one more moment to see her? Feeling the sun on his own face, did he not realize that she was not out yet? Was it ambivalence or a change of heart? One thing’s for certain, all the power of Eurydice’s fate rested in Orpheus’ gaze.

There are many ways of analyzing myths, but one of the messages in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice is of gender roles and how we see each other. Ruhl said about Eurydice, “Rarely does anyone look at Eurydice’s experience. I always found that troubling – she’s the one who dies and takes a journey before Orpheus, but we don’t really see her experience… I’m interested in her voice, a voice that hasn’t been heard before.”[i] Ruhl set out to change Eurydice from an “object” – the object of Orpheus’ gaze and even his love – to an active “subject” – someone who is actively deciding her own fate.

In all the older versions of the story (written by men, I might add) Eurydice is little more a victim. She is usually mute. She is always seen, but is never the see-er.[ii] How do we see each other? There is the feminist claim that our society is skewed for men to do the looking and the women to be seen. I think Ruhl’s Eurydice gives us food for thought on this topic.

Let’s look at the final “Gaze” moment in the script. Orpheus is walking out of the Underworld, not looking back. Eurydice has just said goodbye to her father and is conflicted about leaving him. The stage directions read:

Orpheus walks slowly, in a straight line, with the focus of a tight-rope walker.

Eurydice moves to follow him.

She follows him, several steps behind.

THEY WALK.

Eurydice follows him with precision, one step for every step he takes.

She makes a decision.

She increases her pace.

She takes two steps for every step Orpheus takes. She catches up to him.

Eurydice. Orpheus?

HE TURNS TOWARD HER, STARTLED.

ORHEUS LOOKS AT EURYDICE.

EURYDICE LOOKS AT ORPHEUS.

THE WORLD FALLS AWAY.[iii]

Eurydice gazes at Orpheus

Ruhl has given all the power of decision into Eurydice’s hands. “She makes a decision” is a key moment, after which she hurries to catch up with him and startles him into looking. She looks back. His look was involuntary, hers was not.[iv]

Will you agree with her choice? You’ll have to come and see the play to determine that. But agree or not, Eurydice did the looking this time around. Her fate was in her own hands.

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[i] Schmidt, Heidi. Ruhl’s Women. Thesis. May 2010. Web.

[ii] Bruzelius, Margaret. “HD and Eurydice” Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 44, No. 4, (Winter 1998) p 447-463 Hofstra University

[iii] Ruhl, Sarah. Eurydice. New York: Samuel French, 2008. Print.

[iv] Schmidt, Heidi. Ruhl’s Women. Thesis. May 2010. Web.

Classic Beach Scenes

From Here to Eternity 1953

This is probably the most famous movie kiss of all time:

Gidget 1959

Watch the end of this movie to find out what makes a real woman.

Beach Blanket Bingo 1965

True Love on the Beach

New Video Page: Check out our growing collection of research videos

Eurydice is set in the 50's and there are times in the play when iconic moments from that era are reenacted almost like snippets from old movies; a song from a wartime musical or a stoic farewell on a steamer gangplank. We have a new page dedicated to collecting these original moments from film and TV. Here's a taste of what you'll find on the Dear Eurydice Video page:

Iconic 40's-50's Film Moments

Since You Went Away, 1944

The ultimate train farewell!

This film is often cited as the classic example of a "tearjerker,"

and the scenes portrays a lot of ideals from the period.

Nobody does emotional like Jennifer Jones!

Private Buckaroo, 1942

The Andrew Sisters performing "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree"

50's Advertisements

Coffee Jerks, 1950-60

Memory and Forgetting: A Director's Concept

Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice is steeped with the ideas of memory and forgetting; almost every page is saturated with symbolism and discussion about these two opposites. Most of us would view memory as good and forgetting as bad. Don’t we feel horrible if we forget an important event such as a birthday? Wouldn’t getting amnesia be on our list of top worse things that could happen to our lives? On the other hand, we are urged to remember. We blog and keep journals. Scrapbooking is a huge industry. Genealogy sites are the second most visited sites on the internet (next to pornography.)

But nothing is simple and Ruhl forces us to look deeper at these concepts. Poet Margaret Atwood looked at these same complexities in her poem Orpheus and Eurydice. In part it reads:

He is here, come down to look for you.

It is the song that calls you back,

A song of joy and suffering

Equally: a promise:

that things will be different up there than they were last time.

You would rather have gone on feeling nothing,

Emptiness and silence; the stagnant peace

Of the deepest sea, which is easier

Than the noise and flesh of the surface.[i]

Herein lies the challenge of Eurydice: As Sarah Ruhl wrote it, there is no privileging of memory over forgetting. She explores both concepts with an even hand: What if forgetting wasn’t so bad? What if memory is just too painful? It’s difficult to watch. We want to scream out with the Orphics of old, “Stay away from the waters of Lethe!” It will be the one thing that will irritate and agitate the audience – and get them thinking and conversing.

The concept of memory and forgetting is the major component to Lisa Hall-Hagan’s director’s concept. She wanted our production to focus on and explore these concepts. Each director who leads a production really shapes the script into something new and wonderful through his/her vision. Here is what Lisa had to say about her concept:

“I've always felt myth-based novels and plays work particularly well with dichotomies, and I like the way opposites express themselves in design. For me, this play is so steeped in the pain of loss that it seemed natural to highlight the elements that make loss painful or bearable: memory and/or forgetting. Memory is both comforting and agonizing; forgetting is both peaceful and sad. Immediately the dichotomies become nuanced when the ideas don't divide themselves neatly. Once this concept began to solidify, the concrete and verbal symbols in the play began to arrange themselves within the world - all seeming to point our attention towards one or the other, but also always referencing both.”[ii]

The play is rich in symbols of memory and forgetting. Memory is referenced by string, human objects, letters, names, language, stories, and melody/song. Forgetting is referenced by water, stones, and sound/non-melody. One way that Lisa is adding to this concept is with color. She and Casey Price, the set designer, have designed a white out set to represent the Underworld. So memory is color, forgetting is absence of color.

When you come to the production of Eurydice, come prepared to have your world turned sideways. Be ready to look at life and death in a new way. Also – look for ways the director has played out her concept. What details, great and small, support these ideas of memory and forgetting?

We all come to a piece of theatre from different places. We all connect to the story in different ways. What will you bring to Eurydice? What will you take away?

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[i] Buxton, Richard. The Complete World of Greek Mythology. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2004. Print.

[ii] Hall-Hagan, Lisa. Email. 28 July, 2011.