New interpretations of Ancient Greek Myths are certainly having a moment, from Malthouse Theatre’s stunning adaptation of Troy, to Netflix’s Kaos and Broadway’s Hadestown – a cult-hit in its own right.

Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s Eurydice – the 2003 play penned by acclaimed American playwright Sarah Ruhl, and the singular non-Shakespearean play in the company’s 2026 program – is a strange fever dream of a production that will lead you down the highway to hell and back via a grungy sex den and a junkyard strewn with broken things and broken people.

Aisha Aidara in Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s Eurydice. Photo © Nick Mick Pics

Eurydice (Aisha Aidara) is a young woman who is yanked carelessly between the veil of life and death. She is torn between an ill-fated marriage with a self-centred musician, Orpheus (Tomáš Kantor), her doting yet deceased father (John Voce), and the Lord of the Underworld (Devon Braithwaite) – a menacing, trickster-like figure who is determined to use her as his plaything, however clumsily.

Making several changes to the original myth, Ruhl’s writing is filled with dream-like prose, often prioritising poetry and absurdism over linear...