Eurydice is a play by French writer Jean Anouilh

Jean Anouilh

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...

, written in 1941. The story is set in the 1930s, among a troupe of travelling performers. It combines skepticism

Skepticism

Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...

 about romance in general and the intensity of the relationship between Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

 and Eurydice

Eurydice

Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...

 with an other-worldly mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

. The result is a heavily ironic modern retelling of the classical Orpheus myth.

Synopsis

Eurydice is the daughter of the leading actress in a second-rate acting troupe. The troupe is waiting in a train station. Orphee is an accordionist at the station restaurant. Eurydice and Orphee meet and fall in love. Eurydice rejects the advances of a young man who is also a member of the troupe. The young man throws himself under a train. Eurydice leaves the actors and goes to live with Orphee. The couple is stalked by M. Henri, a sinister figure who may be an avenging fury. The manager of the acting troupe also hunts the couple down and reveals that Eurydice is his mistress and that she had also been sleeping with the young man who committed suicide. The couple quarrel but then reconcile.

Eurydice goes on a shopping trip and is run over by a bus. M. Henri is moved to compassion for Orphee and makes a bargain with death. Eurydice is brought back to life and M. Henri tells Orphee he must not look at Eurydice's face until dawn; if he does, she will die once more. Orphee, still angry from the discovery of Eurydice's previous love affairs, cannot resist looking her in the eye and berating her. She dies once more and compassionate M. Henri arranges for Orphee to be reunited with Eurydice in death.

Radio

BBC THIRD PROGRAMME, 5/2/51. Cast included Paul Scofield

Paul Scofield

David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...

, Esme Percy

Esme Percy

Saville Esme Percy was an English film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1930 and 1956. He was born in London and died in Brighton.-Selected filmography:* Murder! * The Lucky Number...

 and Sebastian Cabot

Sebastian Cabot (actor)

Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, "Giles French," opposite Brian Keith's character, in the 1960s sitcom Family Affair. He was also known for playing Dr...

. Held at The British Library National Sound Archive,Find Format: T11629WR C1