of string. He gradually re-teaches her human language and her past. While the father is away at work, the lord of the underworld enters as a child riding a tricycle and attempts to seduce Eurydice, but fails. Meanwhile, in the land of the living, Orpheus writes a letter to Eurydice, which her father delivers and reads to her. Orpheus also sends her a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare by attaching it to a piece of string, and Eurydice's father reads to her from King Lear. Orpheus sends another letter, and then resolves to go to the underworld himself to find her. In the third movement, Orpheus arrives at the gates of the underworld, singing a song so powerful it makes the Stones weep. The lord of the underworld tells him that he may take Eurydice back, but only if he does not turn around to look at her. Eurydice is then faced with the decision to either stay with her father or go back with her husband. At her father's insistence, she follows Orpheus. But as she catches up to him, she calls out his name, and he turns to look at her, causing her to die a second death. Meanwhile, her father has decided that he wants to forget everything, and dips himself in the river again. When Eurydice returns, her father is lying silent on the ground, having lost all of his language and memory forever. As Eurydice mourns her father, the lord of the underworld returns, having grown from a child to superhuman height. He orders her to be his bride. Eurydice pens a letter to Orpheus and his next wife, then immerses herself in the river and lies down in forgetfulness. Finally, Orpheus too enters from the elevator, having truly died this time. He finds Eurydice's letter to him, but because he has been dipped in the river, he cannot read it. Opera Ruhl adapted the play into the libretto for an opera, Eurydice by Matthew Aucoin, which premiered at the Los Angeles Opera on February 1, 2020. References Sources External links Eurydice, work details, sarahruhlplaywright.com Plays by Sarah Ruhl 2003 plays Off-Broadway plays Orpheus Plays adapted into operas