A Modern/Postmodern Collaboration for the Active Deconstruction of Classical Myth The myth of Orp... more A Modern/Postmodern Collaboration for the Active Deconstruction of Classical Myth The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has existed for hundreds of years, proclaiming the tragic love story of Orpheus' journey to the underworld in pursuit of his deceased lover. The story has established itself as a universal narrative, time and time again telling Orpheus's story through art, music, and theatre alike. However, in Sarah Ruhl's contemporary play Eurydice, the universally accepted narrative is deconstructed and arranged in a new perspective-for once, that of Eurydice's. The classical myth is challenged and turned on its head as we see Eurydice's journey and recognize a new layer to a story that's ignored one side for so long. This subversion of classical text is aligned hand in hand with the developing views on postmodernist theatre (Particularly those of Marranca, Auslander, and Casado-Gual, which will be featured here,) a critical theory whose key aim is to challenge established perspectives and deconstruct narrative and theatre itself in order to find new meaning. Eurydice also strongly takes on elements of Brecht's work in Epic theatre, using Brechtian tools for a postmodernist agenda. In this way Eurydice stands on a bridge between Brecht's Epic Theatre and Postmodernist theatre in a pastiche of elements such as alienating the audience, deconstruction of temporality, and intertextuality in pursuit of finding a new interpretation of a classical myth, one that explores the depth of feeling and agency of both sides, particularly that of Eurydice herself. Eurydice utilizes the Brechtian element of the Alienation effect through theatricality and visuals, but joins its utilization with less of a political intent and more of deconstructed form of the narrative that presents the emotions within the play more viscerally. Brecht speaks of the Osterman 1
A Modern/Postmodern Collaboration for the Active Deconstruction of Classical Myth The myth of Orp... more A Modern/Postmodern Collaboration for the Active Deconstruction of Classical Myth The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has existed for hundreds of years, proclaiming the tragic love story of Orpheus' journey to the underworld in pursuit of his deceased lover. The story has established itself as a universal narrative, time and time again telling Orpheus's story through art, music, and theatre alike. However, in Sarah Ruhl's contemporary play Eurydice, the universally accepted narrative is deconstructed and arranged in a new perspective-for once, that of Eurydice's. The classical myth is challenged and turned on its head as we see Eurydice's journey and recognize a new layer to a story that's ignored one side for so long. This subversion of classical text is aligned hand in hand with the developing views on postmodernist theatre (Particularly those of Marranca, Auslander, and Casado-Gual, which will be featured here,) a critical theory whose key aim is to challenge established perspectives and deconstruct narrative and theatre itself in order to find new meaning. Eurydice also strongly takes on elements of Brecht's work in Epic theatre, using Brechtian tools for a postmodernist agenda. In this way Eurydice stands on a bridge between Brecht's Epic Theatre and Postmodernist theatre in a pastiche of elements such as alienating the audience, deconstruction of temporality, and intertextuality in pursuit of finding a new interpretation of a classical myth, one that explores the depth of feeling and agency of both sides, particularly that of Eurydice herself. Eurydice utilizes the Brechtian element of the Alienation effect through theatricality and visuals, but joins its utilization with less of a political intent and more of deconstructed form of the narrative that presents the emotions within the play more viscerally. Brecht speaks of the Osterman 1
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