Pure Theatre's move fits 'Eurydice' perfectly

While Pure Theatre's performing space has changed, to the Navy Yard at Noisette, the quality of this company's production values has not undergone any change, except, unbelievably, to get even better.

The warehouse-y architecture so perfectly suits this play, the confluence of subject and setting seems designed by the Fates. Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" structures a version of the ancient Greek myth of the legendary lovers told from the heroine's point of view, and makes her responsible for her return to the Underworld. She calls out to her husband Orpheus in an unforgettably tragic scene, even as it transpires in a near-circus atmosphere.

Sharon Graci, adding the talents of movement coach Cristy Landis, directs her extraordinary cast that features Amanda Franklin Johnson in the title role, as strong in performance as she is beautifully fragile in appearance.

Brian Smith as Orpheus projects the ultimate lover, the maker of music so determined to see his new wife again that he persuades the original bad guy (Chad Layman, chilling the blood whether on a tricycle with a whirly-gigged beanie or marching around hell on stilts) to let him try to rescue her.

Rodney Lee Rogers, creating the new role as Father, is at once bathetic and comic. Original music by Nathan Koci of The New Music Collective adds to the lyrical quality, with his musicians playing stones (the Greek chorus).