This is Selkie, Mistress of Oper. Rutherford uses her primarily as a personification of the forces of control and power. Selkie appears as a character in multiple plays, but while she's only the protagonist in one of them Rutherford collectively titled these productions as The Selkie Cycle, or Again and Again.
Going over them, they are:
- The Endless Obsession: A minimalist plot-driven exploration of the simple politics of the gods. Selkie enlists a mortal to settle a conflict, only to let the pressures of power reset it all. In the end, all that has changed is more of Selkie's enemies have died.
- Matches in Monochrome: A shadow-play showing magnificent battles between grotesque monsters. Selkie throws Hades into the "Pit of the Lotus Eater." He must fight his way out of a realm of his own subconscious.
- Blood: A play of mortals with conventional drama. Selkie is used only as a symbol, not a character.
- Finally, I Regret: A short one-scene play. Selkie, as protagonist, gazes out her window at the streets of Oper below. No dialogue.
- At the Wake of the Earth-Shaker: Rutherford's final play. A god has died, and the rest hold a wake. At this wake, Selkie's past actions catch up with her.
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