Interview: Christina Keefe Talks Directing Rice Theatre Program's EURYDICE

The Rice University Theatre Program presents dramatic comedy EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl. EURYDICE is Ruhl's adaptation of the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus, wherein the famed troubadour journeys to the underworld to retrieve Eurydice, his wife. (He is unsuccessful.) In Ruhl's play, the focus is shifted to the failings of Eurydice instead. The nymph must decide between her father in the underworld and her gallant husband.

Ruhl mixes real emotion--EURYDICE is, in part, a message to her deceased father--with surrealist effects in her play. This leads to some funny, heartfelt theater and interesting and imaginative staging.

Rice Theatre Program's EURYDICE director Christina Keefe talks dealing with Eurydice's apparent impetuousness and staging for a character that grows to 10 feet tall.

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Sarah Ruhl changes perspective in EURYDICE. Her play is from the viewpoint of the damsel in distress rather than the traditional hero. What do we gain from this shift?

I wouldn't say that the viewpoint is a damsel in distress at all; I don't believe there is a hero in this play. A traditional hero would win something at the end of his quest - the girl, the money, the house, honor perhaps. I think Ms. Ruhl has written this so that Eurydice makes the final choice - and the choice is between being dead in Hades with her father or life in the real world with Orpheus. So we're put inside the head of a young woman trying to come to terms with the pull of familial love and romantic love. She isn't looking to be saved by Orpheus. In fact, I think it comes as a bit of a surprise to her that he's trying to rescue her.

As a director, what has been your approach to the character Eurydice? I imagine it could be a challenging role for you and your actor.

I think on first read, Eurydice can come across as slightly petulant and needy. What we've worked on is looking for the "why's" of the behavior. She is young and in love with the idea of being in love. Sarah Ruhl's style lends itself to finding emotional states and digging deep into language then action. That has been a wonderful journey for us.

Design or rather effects, I think, are integral to the play. What are your plans there?

I have to laugh at this question because one of the first things I did after reading the play, was to go to my [set] designer [Mark Krouskop] and ask if this play would be possible for us, given our space. I think this is one of the most challenging scripts we've produced in terms of stage effects. We have a raining elevator, a water pump that pumps water and a character that grows to be 10 feet tall, all of which, by the way, we've managed to figure out. It's been quite an adventure.

EURYDICE is partly a reclamation piece. It is taking a traditional myth and making space for women. What makes ORPHEUS worth reclaiming?

I'm not sure if you're asking why reclaim the myth or the character. I'm going to say you're asking about why this myth needs reclaiming. I would start with the premise that this piece is more about Sarah Ruhl having a last conversation with her father, who died of cancer when she was 20. It seems she was very close to her father and some of the words that are used in one particular scene are words that her father taught her. To me, she is reclaiming this myth as a way of exploring her relationship to her own father and as a way to wrestle with questions of mortality.

My question is about the myth itself. Either way, I was completely off base. [Laughs] It's my fault for viewing things always from a socio-political perspective. I am interested in what makes the myth such good source material. I wonder if there is something to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice that keeps writers and audiences in its gravitational pull.

The myth itself is about big ideas of love, trust and faith. It is a beautiful, tragic story that has been translated into plays and films. (The most famous film was probably ORPHEE [ORPHEUS] by Jean Cocteau, done in 1950.) The myth is also about what effect art and music have on our soul -- Orpheus sang so beautifully that even the Lord of the Underworld let him in. To me, myths continue to be part of our lives because we mere mortals have yet to find definitive answers.

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EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl. February 12-13 and 18-20 at 8 p.m.; February 14 at 3 pm. $10 General Admission; $8 Senior Citizens and Rice Alumni, Faculty, Staff; and $5 Students and Groups of 10 or more. Hamman Hall Theatre, 6100 Main Street.** *713-348-4005. arts.rice.edu.

*** Please note that Hamman Hall is on the North side of the Rice University campus. You should enter through Entrance 21 off of Rice Boulevard. For parking information, go to parking.rice.edu.

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