Sarah Ruhl is a new and powerful force in the playwriting world. She won the MacArthur “genius” grant. Her most notable piece, The Clean House, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005, and she has achieved successful runs with some of her other plays such as Eurydice and Passion Play.
However, Sarah Ruhl is not considered a good playwright in this artist’s opinion because of the success of her plays or the prizes she’s won or almost won. She is a good playwright because her plays feel so fresh. I get a sensation, reading her work, of being in a room with high ceilings and white drapes on tall windows, a warm breeze circulating. I feel this way partly because her writing on the page is so open and breezy. The dialogue and action have lots of space to be read and enjoyed, nothing is cramped or forced. She also gives the reader a treat with her stage directions:
“She writes in her journal, something secret and beautiful. She makes up a metaphor.”
Compared to the usually dry and sparse stage directions in other plays, this is poetry. She lays down the secret emotional actions of the characters, which makes it both clear for the reader and the actor what is happening in that moment. The clarity is refreshing. The other reason I describe her writing as “fresh” is because of the surreal aspects she weaves into her work. She imagines an elevator that rains as the transportation from earth to the underworld in Eurydice. In Melancholy Play she writes that a woman turns into an almond. The surreal elements keep her writing completely unpredictable and exciting, never trudging down a path you’ve already visited. It’s fresh.
Ms. Ruhl has also inspired my own work. Although I can’t hope to, and wouldn’t try to, imitate 
her style, I really enjoyed her exploration of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and have decided to adapt a myth of my own. I’m writing the love story between Eros and Psyche, and I hope to pay a lot of attention to the subtle emotions and motivations of each character, after Ms.
Ruhl.
her style, I really enjoyed her exploration of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and have decided to adapt a myth of my own. I’m writing the love story between Eros and Psyche, and I hope to pay a lot of attention to the subtle emotions and motivations of each character, after Ms.
Ruhl.Source:
Sarah Ruhl is incredible. I saw Eurydice in Chicago a couple years back and it changed my life. I don’t think I have ever seen anything as beautiful or touching. The most impressive aspect is how when you read her plays, they are just as gorgeous with her poetic stage directions, which give directors all kinds of different images as they are completely subjective. It gets even better with Eurydice, because it’s this eternal love story with these immortal characters and yet it never once feels pretentious or flashy. It’s just lovely.
ReplyDelete---And I think the Lord of The Underworld character is one of the cleverest creations ever.
I was so excited to see you wrote about her because on the about me in my little blogger profile I have part of Eurydice’s monologue about loving Orpheus. I am so with you on the fresh nature of the plays. I recently read again The Clean House and I most definitely felt the breeze.
I did not know about Sarah Ruhl's work at all. I am completely blown away after watching the two minute voice clip of Sarah Ruhl that you posted talking about unmediated voices. Wow, where do I start? I love her idea that the stage is where anything can happen so she does not want to present "realism" on the stage. She says she does not like plays with living rooms because she feels that movies can portray them better. I love this idea because it is so true; anything can happen on the stage and the audience is forced to believe it because that is the magic of the theatre.
ReplyDeleteShe describes the elevator that rains as the transportation to the underworld in Eurydice. She states she does not know why but that is immediately what she thought of. I agree with you that she is so fresh. This idea is brilliant. I mean honestly how many greek versions of plays are there out there? But how many have an elevator that rains? It is so creative but it means so much. She says that she loves the simple elements that she can add to her plays.
I think the most poignant thing she mentions that hits me as an actor is her discussion of if the actor becomes the role. She uses her example of her Passion Play and poses the question about the actress playing the Virgin Mary. If she continues to play the character over and over again, does it affect the actress' psyche? I have always thought about this but Sarah Ruhl puts it so elegantly. Will that actress act more and more like the Virgin Mary in her everyday life? I have not experienced this in any of my performances, but I have not had any long runs. It is something worth questioning because it determines the connection that the actors have with the material. Thank you for introducing me to the work and mind of Sarah Ruhl! I love her theories and attitude toward her work. Now, I will read her plays!