SUDS Presents: Eurydice
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Adele Beaumont
Produced by Georgie Eggleton
Assistant Directed by Emma Johns
23rd August - 2nd September 2023
The Cellar Theatre
Contact email: eurydicesuds@gmail.com
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Background:
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl is a surrealist retelling of the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The play follows Eurydice, and how she reconciles with the ongoing grief from her fathers death and the gap it has left in her life. It is fundamentally a play about love, exploring the complexities of Eurydice’s romance with Orpheus and separation from her Father. While surreal and dreamlike, Eurydice is an emotionally honest play that explores themes of grief, love, family, memory and identity within the framework of a classic tale.
Content Warnings:
Sexual references
References to death
Themes of death and grief
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What to Prepare:
We would like you to prepare for your intended production role(s) with the aforementioned creative visions in mind and show us anything your pretty little head came up with. Don’t feel limited to our visions though, we are very open to all your ideas!
Moodboard: https://bit.ly/3oIQVAE
Text Extract: https://bit.ly/3LBT2iP
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APPLY HERE!
Production Callout: https://bit.ly/3HpK3yK
You will be advised of your 15-20 minute interview time in a follow-up email.
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PRODUCTION ROLES:
Assistant Producer:
We are looking for an assistant to our lovely producer Georgie. The assistant producer will assist in scheduling and organisation of rehearsals and meetings, as well as helping wrangle all finances. We want to make this a supportive learning opportunity, so experience is not required, we are just looking for people who are confident in their organisational, communication and leadership skills.
Composers:
Looking for the creation of original music for this show. The journey of Eurydice is crucially shown through music, developing from simple motifs into complex melodies that parallel her story. Crucially we want to explore and play with how one composition can get more and more layered paralleling the layers explored in the play and explore the soundscape of the underworld.
Sound Design:
Sound Design will have a key practical and creative role. The role will collaborate with composers to find and use sound effects that emulate the settings of the play: eg. jazz music in an apartment, rain in an elevator, a wet dripping cave. They will also be responsible for operating sound equipment on the show nights.
Lighting:
Lighting in Eurydice is surrealist, meaning it has the ability to capture the emotions and themes of the play in a symbolic and non-realistic way. Playing with how lighting makes set, character and space abstract, grotesque and caricatured. We encourage people who are interested in learning lighting, even from scratch!
Set:
Set “in-the-round”, the audience will be facing onto a set that looks and feels other-worldly and liminal. And blue. Dank, cave-like, void yet cluttered, and full of water - it’s a “water play”. Water is responsible for both life and death after all - it is the means by which we move between the two places in space: the upper world, and the Underworld. There will be many opportunities for resourcefulness and creativity, especially with set items including a Room of string, a raining elevator, and a water pump having vital roles in the play. Otherwise set pieces will be minimal, but cleverly used to transform the space throughout the play, cluttered with memories of all those who reside in our version of the Underworld.
Stage Management:
The stage manager will ensure smooth operation behind the scenes, sourcing props and some smaller set pieces (in partnership with the set designer and assistant), keeping things tidy around the space, especially backstage, and assisting cast and crew with transitions/cues during show dates. Individuals with organisation skills and a strong sense of teamwork would best suit this role.
Costume:
Set against a sea of blue, there is significant opportunity for costumes to shine. The use of colour is therefore key, thinking about what it represents for each character and relationship. Opportunity for costumes to be a mish mash of different eras, especially in the Underworld where everyone becomes a little more cluttered in layers of time and memory. For the costume designer, we are looking for someone who has experience with sewing and patchwork.
Hair and Make-Up:
Hair and makeup will be abstract and big, playing with colour in a mish mash of Euphoria, Guillermo Del Toro, Tim Burton. Think fantastical, monstrous yet beautiful, as it helps represent life, death, memory and love. We want big ideas for makeup as we hope to parallel the characters’ makeup with their arc throughout the play - so the sky’s the limit! Please refer to our moodboard ~linked at the top of this callout~ for an idea of our initial creative vision and you can use that to develop your own artistic idea.
Graphic Design:
We are looking for a graphic designer who basically likes blue. Seriously.
We have a moodboard in the form of a Pinterest board ~which we linked at the top of this callout~ and you can look through it to see if this is an aesthetic/style you would like to develop as our graphic designer! The graphic designer is in charge of promotional material, with the help of the photographer. Promotional material includes the cast and crew announcements, the poster, the DPs (Facebook display pictures), and lastly, the program book. For the program book, this will be done alongside the showrunners to lighten the load and make it more of a collaborative process.
Photography:
Photography has a key role in capturing key moments of our show as we progress! This role is in charge of promotional and archival material, with the help of the graphic designer. The photographer will be taking our promotional profile photos (Facebook display pictures), the rehearsal process, and the show itself for our SUDS archives. We have a moodboard ~linked at the top of this callout~ that gives you an idea of our creative vision for the show! We encourage anyone to apply if you’re interested in the show as it will be a space for you to experiment with your own photography style using our show as your base!
Videography:
The videographer’s role is key in essentially immortalising the show for the SUDS archives. There is a lot of creative liberty in this role as we want to provide this space for you to experiment with videography. What the videographer does is film any promotional advertisements that you’d like, within discussion with the directors! Due to this being a longer slot, there is space for you to learn to edit and find your own videography style by using this show as your base. Please look through the moodboard ~linked at the top of this callout~ to see what our initial creative vision is for the show. We encourage anyone to apply for videography if you’re interested in capturing the creative vision we have, and hopefully you can be a part of developing that vision further!
Production Assistant:
As this is a large production show with complex makeup, set, lighting, costume etc, we are looking for a production assistant to help ensure the show goes smoothly! The production assistant’s role is essentially to be the bridge between the other departments so everything is consistent with the overall creative vision, and will work with the producer and assistant producer so it won’t be a one-person job. We encourage anyone interested in the show to apply - especially if you wish to hone your organisational and collaboration skills. You will also be
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TIME SLOTS:
Interviews will be held over Zoom and will run for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Monday 8th May 10:00-2:00 pm
Wednesday 10th May 10:00-12:00 pm
Thursday 11th May 10:00 -3:00 pm
Friday 12th May 10:00-11:30 am
If you cannot make any of these times please email us eurydicesuds@gmail.com
KEY DATES:
Callbacks: Saturday 27th +Sunday 28th May 12-4pm
Table Read: Week of the 29th of May (TBC)
Bump In: Sunday 20th - Tuesday 22nd of August
Show: 23rd August to the 2nd September