And I’m not entirely sure where I stand on the chorus, all dressed up in flowered dresses like the world’s creepiest 1950s housewives, dancing in a manner that suggests someone gave them the stage direction “Dance like a broken automaton who keeps getting subjected to electric shocks.” On the one hand, it’s very effectively creepy! On the other hand, they felt pitying rather than sympathetic to Medea’s plight, which may be a reflection of the translation as much as anything else, but I think it weakens the play.
Mmm, that's unfortunate. When I saw Medea last year - different translation I think, and not set in modern times - they hid the chorus in the audience. It made for a great gasp! moment, as well as really emphasising their role as audience surrogates, when the first actress spoke out of the audience (and then came on stage), followed by two more.
The impact is all the more painful because she does love them and it does not stop her.
Yes!!!
The entire final scene, her whole last confrontation with Jason, she’s got these sleeping bags, she hauls them in along the ground and then hoists them up on her shoulders, and they’re heavy, and at last she’s alone onstage and turns her back on us and staggers off on the road to Athens, bent under the weight of the dead children slung across her shoulders…
OMG. Amazing and painful. But yeah, mine didn't give her a full dragon chariot! TBF performing in the round, I'm not sure how they'd have managed it, but they did give her a grand exit.
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Date: 2024-12-22 10:11 pm (UTC)Mmm, that's unfortunate. When I saw Medea last year - different translation I think, and not set in modern times - they hid the chorus in the audience. It made for a great gasp! moment, as well as really emphasising their role as audience surrogates, when the first actress spoke out of the audience (and then came on stage), followed by two more.
The impact is all the more painful because she does love them and it does not stop her.
Yes!!!
The entire final scene, her whole last confrontation with Jason, she’s got these sleeping bags, she hauls them in along the ground and then hoists them up on her shoulders, and they’re heavy, and at last she’s alone onstage and turns her back on us and staggers off on the road to Athens, bent under the weight of the dead children slung across her shoulders…
OMG. Amazing and painful. But yeah, mine didn't give her a full dragon chariot! TBF performing in the round, I'm not sure how they'd have managed it, but they did give her a grand exit.