Eurydice Response

I went to see Eurydice, and I have some thoughts.

I’m going to primarily focus on excerpts from my critical response paper from Eurydice for this blog post, and intertwine them with some more in-depth thoughts about the show. It was interesting to see some of the concepts that we’ve been discussing in class transfer over the the show, and to see the things that I think could have been better applied and what I will attempt to apply in my performances moving forward.

The first direct tie-in to the concept of voice and physical connection comes from Orpheus, near the beginning of the play. Orpheus continually brings up music and song in his conversations with Eurydice, as well as discussing the connections those elements have to his voice and perception of the world. When I watched this piece, it was evident to me that Joseph Price, for all the excellent qualities he possesses as an actor, had a disconnect between his lines and voice. This is a problem that I also face in my theatrical work, and I think the exercises we do in class that are currently benefiting me extensively could also benefit him in the same way. I could see the physical break between his breath and his lines, and there didn’t seem to be a ton of connection with the words he was speaking and his physicality, and I think it hurt his performance to some extent. Watching this show helped me realize finally the importance of the connection with the breath and the sigh of relief we’ve been doing in class, because physical tenseness is only so believable onstage. Tensing up my body has long been one of my many tics in performing, and I think this class is already helping me overcome it.

A great example of the connection between voice and body and the removal of tension was Max Kunz as the Lord of the Underworld. When he first appeared on stage, his innate power and connection to his body spoke volumes about the strength of his character, a quality which his lines emphasized throughout the play. Max seemed to be completely connected to the experience he was participating in and to be free of the tension experienced by the rest of his castmates, and this made his appearances onstage much more connected and pleasing to the audience. Especially in contrast to Joseph and his physical tensing, Max’s command of his physicalities and movement was very exciting to watch. It was a great example of how significantly physical connection can improve a performance. I need to start incorporating this into my acting. I’m blessed with a large and powerful body, and for a very long time I have been afraid of my body and its size. But I’m starting to recognize that my body can be a significant benefit to my acting, and if I can utilize it successfully in my acting I will benefit as a result.

Overall, Eurydice was just fine. I can’t criticize it too much as there were many awesome things about it, but there were also several setbacks that I now know to avoid in my own performances.