The reviews are in for Walking Shadow’s ‘Eurydice’

Sarah Ruhl's play "Eurydice" retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but this time from the perspective of its heroine.

Walking Shadow Theatre Company is staging 'Eurydice' at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis through September 29. Critics' descriptions of the show range from "exquisite jewel" to "just clever when it should be profound."

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Walking Shadow Theatre Company's production of 'Eurydice,' written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Amy Rummenie

Photo: Dan Norman Photography

From Graydon Royce at the Star Tribune:

Sarah Ruhl's play "Eurydice" really should have a "handle with care" label on the script. So fragile and delicate is this dreamy meditation on love and loss that it can easily break apart in production. I have seen it happen.

Director Amy Rummenie, though, needs no special instructions. Her production, which opened Walking Shadow Theatre's season Friday at Minneapolis' Pillsbury House Theatre, is nearly perfect in its sensitivity and sensibility.

...So thanks to Walking Shadow for holding this exquisite jewel to the light with exceptional care and affection. It is that rarest of things: a sad joy.

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Paris Hunter Paul and Andrea San Miguel in Walking Shadow Theatre Company's production of Eurydice

Photo: Dan Norman Photography

From Sophie Kerman at AisleSayTwinCities:

It is a tribute to the Walking Shadow's courage and ability that they have chosen such a challenging play and have staged it beautifully. The script is written in movements, like a symphony, and its fluid musicality is not lost on this production. Crossing back and forth between the stark world of the living and the timelessness of death, Eurydice explores remembrance and loss with delicacy, compassion and humor. In a mythical landscape where it is all too easy to give in and let memories be washed away, this production is hauntingly hard to forget.

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Peter Ooley in Walking Shadow Theatre Company's production of 'Eurydice,' on stage at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis through September 29

Photo: Dan Norman Photography

From Ed Huyck at City Pages:

It's well acted and put together, but Eurydice is often just clever when it should be profound, engaging when it should be heartbreaking.

In her notes, director Amy Rummenie notes that the play's themes of loss of memory were extremely close to her heart, as her father died from Alzheimer's. That, and the fact many of us have dealt with a loved one disappearing long before they actually pass on, may be why the moments between Eurydice and her father are more powerful than any of the scenes of her with Orpheus. ...Heartbreak is at the play's center. Everything else just gets in the way.

Have you seen Walking Shadow's production of "Eurydice?" What did you think?

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