*Orpheus and Eurydice: The Power of Love * is our 16th annual production.
Choreography by Nikki Northover, Aimee Symes and Bec Ayles
Music by composers Andrew Dickson ( with singer Georgia Collins) and Chris Reynolds.
Sounds arranged by Rob Lee.
Friday 6 March : 7.30pm
Saturday 7 March : 2pm
Saturday 7 March : 7.30pm
Orpheus and Eurydice is a story of tragic separation but also about the power and transformative value of dance, music, friendship and love.
Musician and poet Orpheus falls in love with mortal Eurydice and loves her so deeply that when she dies, he travels to the underworld to get her back.
There he enchants everyone….even the dark king Hades – with the beauty of his music.
Hades King of Shadows, King of Shades knows what this love is like. He fell in love with a woman who walked above; Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter.
Meanwhile in the underworld, Eurydice and Persephone developed a beautiful friendship. Eurydice was a breath of fresh air in this dark kingdom where the sun never shone.
Alongside this precious friendship with Eurydice, Persephone grew to love Hades and enjoyed being the queen
of the underworld.
Hades, recognising the love Orpheus shows for his wife, allows Orpheus to take Eurydice back to the upper world. Under a single condition; he must not look back.
Anxious that Eurydice may not have followed, Orpheus turns around as he enters the light and loses her for a second time. This time she is taken by the shadows into the underworld where she will live for ever.
Bereft on a mountain, he is caught in a storm and struck by Zeus’s lightening. However, Orpheus is saved by his friend Hades, who has been charmed by the musicians ability to enchant the natural world, as well as the spirits in the underworld.
Hades, being softened by this powerful love, takes Orpheus to Eurydice where they are are finally reunited.
Now the lovers walk together side by side. Sometimes she walks ahead…sometimes he does…but they are finally together.
Our version of the Greek myth is a story about the power of love against the inevitability of human weakness. Love and friendship are underlying themes throughout.
BYD and this production has been supported by Bridport Town Council, Vicary and Co., Bridport Charities, The Walbridge Trust, Palmers Brewery and Leakers Bakery.
