Orphic Revival

The University of Alabama at Birmingham recently sponsored a trip to Greece and Bulgaria in furtherance of their study of theatre and their production of a new play, "Orpheus:  An Experimental Myth."  The trip culminated with a performance of their new play in Sofia.

According to [Emilie] Soffe, “It was a piece that was created by all of us, with some text that was borrowed from poetry and song lyrics. It was about 30 minutes long and was comprised of several different pieces which we wove together to create one show.”

“Within the one piece there were actually eight smaller sections which were connected by transitions,” she said. “We focused mainly on three different aspects of the myth that we found interesting: Love, Loss, and Memory, and the pieces each commented on one of those themes.”

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[Kristina] Howard says that the group spent two weeks in May traveling through Bulgaria and Greece and that they visited several historic sites throughout Bulgaria and Greece. Among the highlights, according to Howard, were, “Peperikon, the ancient Thracian palace and temple; the Devil's Throat cave, which is said to be where Orpheus entered the Underworld; Orpheus' supposed burial place; the Acropolis, which contains the Parthenon; the ancient temples at Delphi.”

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Soffe notes that the students compared and contrasted modern day theatre acoustics and those of the ancient Greek theatres they visited. “It was sad for us to realize that theirs were, for the most part, much better,” she said.

The benefits will spill over into next season's "Eurydice"...