MODERN VERSION OF GREEK LEGEND

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27404, 17 July 1954, Page 2

MODERN VERSION OF GREEK LEGEND

University Production Of “Eurydice” A modern French version of the Greek legend of Eurydice and Orpheus, described by one of the production committee as “very strong stuff,” is the Canterbury University Drama Club’s major work for 1954 The play, “Eurydice,” by Jean Anouilh, will be presented at the Repertory Theatre on Tuesday evening, and each evening until next Saturday. “Eurydice” made a successful appearance in the West End with Dirk Bogarde and Mai Zetterling in the leading roles, and it was broadcast by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service under the title “Point of Departure.” Another of Anouilh’s plays, “Ring Around the Moon,” was produced recently by the New Zealand Players. “Eurydice,” in the opinion of its producers, is a supremely pessimistic philosophy but eminently good theatre. The story of the love of Orpheus, a street musician, for Eurydice, a member of a fourth-rate theatrical company, is told against sordid surroundings, and Anouilh, a bitter critic of the present age, traces the effect of circumstance and environment on the lovers with great sincerity. The leading roles are taken by Marie Dronke (Eurydice), Malcolm Couper (Orpheus), and Jonathon Crawford (the messenger of Death), and the play is produced by J. B. Owen.