Imma gonna watch a play. But first, lemme take a selfie.
Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), ends its 30th season with the play "Eurydice", a modernist reinterpretation of the Greek myth by playwright Sarah Ruhl. As for me, it marks my return as a stage play blogger.
I first read about the tale of Eurydice and Orpheus in Edith Hamilton's classic book, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Goddesses (1942). One of the "eight brief tales of lovers", Hamilton tells the tragic love story of Orpheus, a musician, and his lady love, Eurydice, who was bitten by a snake on their wedding day. Distraught, Orpheus goes to the Underworld and uses his gift of music to move Hades and Persephonē, rulers of the world of the dead, in order to give Eurydice back to him.
Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" was translated into Filipino by Guelan Luarca and directed by Loy Arcenas. The play tells the story from the perspective of the titular character. Ruhl added the character of Eurydice's father, which added a new dimension to the story.
Preview at "Pasinaya"
The last time I was at the CCP was during the Pasinaya Open House Festival last February 4 and 5. Dubbed "Palihan at Palabas", the first day of the festival featured several short (and free!) workshops ("Palihan") held simultaneously at different venues at the CCP. I was only able to attend a film appreciation workshop, but went home with a haul of books from the "Art Market". Plus I bought a "baller" bracelet, which serves as an access pass for the shows that will be presented on the following day.
The second day was dedicated to simultaneous performances ("Palabas")--folk dance, music, theater, ballet, film, etc. etc.--in and around the CCP. It was absolutely overwhelming to the senses that there was so much going on...and there was so many people! The CCP's resident performance companies were there: Tanghalang Pilipino, Ballet Philippines, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, the Bayanihan National Folkdance Company, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, etc., etc.--performing at the cavernous Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater). It was the cultural equivalent of watching movie trailers--I was excited to look forward to this year at the CCP!
Tanghalang Pilipino presented an excerpt of their season-ender, "Eurydice". It was from the first scene of the play. My former student, Lhorvie Ann Nuevo (Eurydice) and Marco Viaña (Orpheus, or Orfeo in Tagalog) looked tiny on the huge and unadorned stage but the thousand-strong audience was electrified with kilig.
The kilig is strong in this one.
(It was also my first time to watch ballet. Ballet Philippines staged excerpts of their upcoming "Swan Lake" and I fell in love! I'm going to catch this too!)
During the Pasinaya I given a folder at the Tanghalang Pilipino booth, which contained information on the upcoming "Eurydice" and more importantly, a discount coupon! I used it to buy a ticket for the 3:00 show on February 18 (Saturday). The play was performed off on the stage Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater). (We were literally on the stage itself!)
Author's Warning: Below be SPOILERS! If you want to watch the play with an unburdened mind, stop reading immediately, buy tickets, and watch it for yourself. You have been forewarned.
Synopsis (and Commentary)
The play opens with Eurydice (Nuevo) and Orfeo (Viaña), playing on the beach like love-crazed teenagers. (I almost shouted, "Get out of here, you crazy kids!") It was all there: the loving looks, the sweet caresses, the passionate words, the shooting of stars out from the sky...and the occasional feigned tampo (what's this in English?) on the part of Eurydice. Eurydice is "mad" at Orfeo for always thinking about music.
Orfeo cajoling Eurydice out of her tampo: "I'm thinking about you..." (Eurydice smiles) "...and music too." (Eurydice frowns) Painting by Juan Luna.
...and for not appreciating the "interesting arguments" she shared with him from the books that she read. I tell you, my friends, the lines that were delivered in Tagalog pack more kilig (what's this in English too?) than I can ever write here. For example, Orfeo tries (in vain) to teach Eurydice a tune that he composed. He asks,"Will you remember?" she replies, "Will I ever forget?" He then ties a piece of string on her ring finger and tells her, "I love you." She gives him a slap on the face and says, "I love you too."
The following scene shows Eurydice's father (Juliene Mendoza, whose appearance made some in the audience remark, "It's 'Bato' dela Rosa!") in the afterlife. (Veteran stage actor Audie Gemora alternates with Mendoza in other performances. He reveals that in spite of being immersed in the River (of forgetfulness, the Lethē), he still remembers his daughter and, very importantly, how to read and write. He then writes a letter to Eurydice on the occasion of her wedding to Orfeo.
Eurydice's father in the Underworld.
Meanwhile, at Eurydice and Orfeo's wedding reception, Eurydice goes out to get a drink of water (from the artesian pump to the right of the stage). His father's letter drops down from the rafters above (like how the sponsors' rewards arrive in The Hunger Games) and is intercepted by "the Nasty Interesting Man" (Jonathan "Tad" Tadioan), looking dapper in a suit. He entices Eurydice to go with him to his home by saying he has a letter from his father. She resists his advances and tries to run away but she falls down the stairs (instead of being bitten by a snake) and dies.
The Most Interesting (Nasty) Man. Meme by me.
The second movement begins with the entrance of the Stones (Alfritz Blanche, JV Ibesate, and Blanche Buhia in this performance; alternating with Doray Dayao, Aldo Vencilao, and Ybes Bagadiong)--Little Stone, Big Stone, and Loud Stone--who serve as the Chorus in the play. They were wearing white pajamas with some black psychedelic print on it. They wear wooden clogs--bakya--so the sound of their steps on the hardwood floor sounds like the sound of stones banging on one another.
Me with the Stones. They “rock”.
The Stones tell the audience that all speaking is forbidden in the afterlife—that everyone be “as silent as stones”. Eurydice enters the stage through an elevator at the back center. It is raining inside the elevator as she steps out looking like Mary Poppins: in her white wedding dress (now soiled up), and carrying a luggage case and an umbrella. Her father was all too glad to see her, but she has her memory wiped. Her father attempts to help Eurydice regain her memory by teaching her about her past and even "building" her a "room" using strings (lengths of cord hooked to the stage floor and to rings suspended overhead). The chorus of the Stones protest this, saying the speaking and building rooms are forbidden in the afterlife. Then Hades (Tadioan), in the form of a child, enters, looking comical in children's clothes and riding a tricycle with a pot-pot horn. He tries to seduce Eurydice but fails (again).
Eurydice arrives in the Underworld. It was raining inside the elevator. Good thing she has an umbrella.
Meanwhile, the despondent Orfeo tries to find ways to go to the afterlife (like Christopher Reeve trying to go back to the past in Somewhere in Time). He even sends her a volume of the complete works of Shakespeare (which came down the rafters attached to some cord), which Eurydice's father reads to her. (Parenting done right!)
In the third movement, Orfeo arrives in the Underworld (perhaps through some quantum "string theory" stuff using his guitar--who knows?) and bangs on the gates of Hades. The Stones berate him for making so much noise. Finally Hades (still in child form) allows Eurydice to return to the land of the living, on the condition that Orfeo does not look back. Eurydice, now with her memory back, it torn between staying with her father or going with her husband. At her father's insistence, she follows Orfeo back to the world above. But before they can emerge from the Underworld, she calls out Orfeo's name, causing him to look back and her to die a second death.
Eurydice finds her father on the ground. He has disassembled her string “room” and has thrown himself into the river in order to forget her. He has lost all memory of her and of language. Hades enters once more, having grown up and wearing a tuxedo, and orders Eurydice to be his bride. (Where's Persephonē?) She writes a letter to Orfeo telling him to be happy and to take a new wife. She also throws herself into the Lethē “and lies down in forgetfulness”. Finally, Orfeo too enters through the raining elevator, apparently truly dead this time. He sees Eurydice's letter on the ground but could not read it, because he himself was also been dipped into the river and have forgotten everything.
Reinterpreting the Myth
Personally, my beef about Sarah Ruhl's reinterpretation of the Eurydice myth is that I think it not take enough of the myth into the play. Not that I am necessarily against reinterpretations: TP made several great reinterpretations such as a musical adaptation of the Bicol “Ibalong” myth; “Der Kaufmann” (based on William Shakespeare's “Merchant of Venice”, translated into Tagalog and set in a Nazi concentration camp); “Juego de Peligro” (based on Pierre Choleros de Laclo's “Les Liaisons dangereuses”, set during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines). The list goes on and on: “Pahimakas ng Isang Ahente” (Arthur Miller's “Death of a Salesman”), “Prinsipe Munti” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery's “The Little Prince”), “Mabining Mandirigma” (a gender-bend “steampunk” musical on the life of Apolinario Mabini). (All of the latter I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to watch, hu hu hu....)
Orpheus was a musician, so it is easy to understand why girls like Eurydice would fall in love with him. (I read some girls on social media saying that they are “turned on” by guys would are good with the guitar or singing.) The play shows of his musician skills and yet I feel it could have done more. For example, I don't recall any song or music when Orfeo goes to the Underworld in order to persuade Hades to give Eurydice back to him. (If there was, please write in the comments section below.) Other elements of the Orpheus myth could have been included, such as his death: After unsuccessfully bringing Eurydice back from the death, perhaps have could have spent his days writing “emo” love songs on lost love before he was viciously torn apart by the Maenads, mad followers of the god of wine, Dionysus. Orfeo could have entered the Underworld with his clothes in shreds. (Could it have been mentioned that he was one of the Argonauts who joined Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and how he saved their lives using his music, twice?)
I have to hand it although, to Marco Viaña's portrayal of Orfeo: He was as love-crazed as Eurydice was. But in most of the play, when he lost Eurydice, he was zombie-like, half-alive but mostly dead, with the loss of his bride. And yet Viaña was able to portray Orfeo's desperation. That scene with the guitar though, was for me some serious Quantum Theory stuff.
I would laud the reinterpretation of the titular character itself, Eurydice. Ruhl's Eurydice was far from being just the victim of a snakebite. Add to this Lhorvie Nuevo's dynamic performance which shows Eurydice as a love-crazed girl, a confused bride, a clueless soul, and a loving daughter. I just wonder why Ruhl shifted the burden of Eurydice's second death from Orpheus to her. In the Greek myth, it was because he could not contain himself so Orpheus looked back at Eurydice; in the play Eurydice called out Orpheus' name, making him look back. Why?
I also have to hand it to Ruhl for inventing the character of Eurydice's father. It was his love for his daughter that made him reach out to her even in the afterlife. I could not blame him for loving her too much, even though that his letter, which fell into the dirty hands of Hades, caused her death. I have to take my hat off to Juliane Mendoza's portrayal of Eurydice's father—tough but tender. Ruhl's addition of this character gave new angles to the myth—a woman's love for her father vis-a-vis her love for her husband.
I also have to hand it to Ruhl's Hades, portrayed Tad Tadioan, a very versatile actor. Hades was indeed a very “nasty interesting man”. He was indeed comical pedaling around in a red tricycle and good thing he had “broad shoulders” as needed in the script! The absence of Hades' wife, Persephonē, from the play had me asking why Ruhl left her out. She could have given Hades a zonk on the head for flirting with Eurydice!
The ending though left me thinking. Eurydice and her father were on the ground, in a vacant state of forgetfulness. Orfeo too has lost his memories, now truly dead. Only Hades stands victorious. Does Ruhl want to say that not even love can triumph over death? Or does she want to leave her audience thinking?
Bravo! With the cast of "Eurydice" from Tanghalang Pilipino's Actors Company.
