T Charles Erickson

If there is one thing everyone remembers about the myth of Orpheus it is the fact that, on the way out of Hades, he looked back to check if his beloved Eurydice was following and therefore lost her forever, having broken the terms of her release. In Rinde Eckert’s version we never get to that point. In fact, it takes the first hour of the show for him to decide to go to Hades in the first place and when he gets there it all appears to go terribly wrong. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned that the rock star Orpheus and the poet Eurydice do not even know each other - they met for the first time in the traffic accident that killed Eurydice, whereby she died in his arms.

Eckert also plays Orpheus in this rather grey and sombre production, directed by Robert Woodruff, and enlivened only by glimpses of Eurydice around the stage - either writing her poetry, in Greek, on Perspex surfaces or being naked on video. Cast against type - the romantic leads are evidently conceived of as more mature versions of the mythical characters - Orpheus at times looks more like a bouncer than a musician. An interesting performance is given by John Kelly, who plays Orpheus’ manager John as well as Persephone, the queen of the underworld. Music-wise the production is a curious mix of cutting edge contemporary, rock and musical style arrangements.

Although Pulitzer short-listed, this particular work of theatre is not ‘popular hit’ material. An audience would need to work hard to actually engage with any of the themes or constituent elements of this radically reworked classic. A resort to the programme note will further reveal that Eckert takes his work so seriously that he has worked 13 hours a day for six weeks on this piece. Not surprisingly, the result is polished, but completely self-absorbed and cut off from its audience.

“I know the audience want and deserve something,” Eckert has said, “but for the sake of poetic gestalt they cannot have it.” What more can one say.