The lengths that men are willing to go to capture the heart of a beautiful woman are astounding. Our lustful nature can possess us to stand before the gates of hell, willing to challenge the undead if it will win us our beloved prize. It is a valiant and romantic idea, but sadly an idea that does not always come to fruition.

This tragic scenario can be seen in Sarah Ruhl’s play “Eurydice,” performed by the CMU theater department last weekend as the final show of the 2013-2014 theater season. The play tells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice’s perspective as she is tricked into entering purgatory and struggles to choose between the love for her long-lost father in the underworld or her husband who is barely surviving without her in the world of the living.

Kristen Kubiak plays Eurydice, the witless damsel in distress whom the play is centered upon. Kubiak successfully portrays an indecisive and selfish maiden who makes all the wrong choices and cannot match the intensity of the love given to her by both her father or her husband. Her performance in the underworld as she works to regain the memory she lost in death strikes the audience with sympathy for the woman who abandoned her husband at their own wedding just a few scenes before.

The three men in the play, Orpheus, the father and the Interesting Man, are unknowingly caught in a battle to win the affection of Eurydice, and each has a different strategy. Orpheus, played by William Riley Holmes, is constantly trying to prove his love to his wife through his music. He attempts to teach her the different melodies and rhythms that persist in his head, but they never resonate in her mind, causing an unavoidable rift in their relationship.

Colton Pratt plays the father and has arguably the most difficult part in the play. Depicted as a decrepit old man who has been in purgatory for many years, Pratt plays his character with a raspy voice, a constant shake in his hands and a large hunch in his back. Despite the loss of memory for all who enter death, the father never forgets about his daughter. The relationship they build in the afterlife as he helps her regain her lost memories creates the strongest bond between Eurydice and any other, and their departure from each other is the most heart wrenching moment throughout the play.

Keith McKay plays final suitor, the Interesting Man, and his character is by far the strangest. In life, he is a smooth-talking yet oddly-dressed man who persuades Eurydice to follow him to his apartment to profess his love for her, which is where she meets her unfortunate fate. In death, he is the ruler of the underworld but is not very intimidating. He begins as a young child who randomly springs from the ground to make his appearances and eventually becomes a towering adult with only one idea in mind for his most recent addition to hell.

Of course, we cannot forget the stone people, each projected onto different projector screens hovering above the characters in purgatory. Samantha Wittig, Curtis Worrell and Rachel Boyce provide the comic relief for the audience and also guide the newcomers to hell in how to communicate with their fellow fallen souls.

While the dialogue is strange at points, the play is comprehendable and flows smoothly. The combination of set design and projector effects works well to set the scene, making for a unique perspective of the clasic Greek myth. The cast especially did a good job of making it “interesting.”

mfreter@mavs.coloradomesa.edu