"Medea"
"Medea" was first produced in 431 B.C., but the Greek tragedy by Euripides offers a lot to today’s audiences with the tale of a woman so obsessed by revenge, she is willing to murder her own children. However, it can be difficult to make this one-act play successful on the contemporary stage.
As the play opens at Allentown’s Civic Theatre, a member of the chorus strides down the aisle chanting (in Hebrew, for some unknown reason). Then the Nurse (Trina Johnson-Brady) enters and delivers a monologue to explain what has happened so far. At the same time, offstage Medea is mourning her fate as the wife of a man who has spurned her to marry a younger woman.
Johnson-Brady’s angry ranting reaches an emotional peak not matched by the rest of the play. And Medea’s wailing from behind the set’s door makes her sound like a wounded moose, so much so that it is startling to see a composed woman when she finally appears on stage.
Emily Abruzzi’s Medea comes to life, full of scheming, hatred, duplicity, and seductiveness. She interprets Medea as a woman who has gone mad, instead of one who is intrinsically evil. This unusual approach works for her character, as she begins in a restrained fashion and lets her emotions build as the story progresses.
Matthew Stitzer, as Medea’s husband Jason, plays his part as if he were William Shatner in a remake of “Jason and the Argonauts”. His vain and studly Jason is wonderful in its own way, but his over-the-top performance does not mesh with Abruzzi’s classical approach.
He is not helped by his appearance, which seems to feature a low-priced Masters of the Universe Halloween costume and what appears to be a pair of galoshes. For some reason, all the women here are dressed like Classical Greeks, while the men wear modern footwear with varying mixtures of Ancient Greek and modern clothes.
Michael Combs gives a flat reading as the Tutor. Tom Onuschco is regal enough as King Kreon, father of Jason’s intended bride, who condescendingly gives Medea one more day before her banishment. Tony Kohl’s character seems a little modern, but he adds the necessary comic relief as the aged King Aigeus.
Shawn Salevsky is sufficiently dramatic as the Messenger describing the offstage results of Medea’s revenge, although his Jersey accent is a bit jarring. The nine young women in the chorus are fine individually, but sound overly strident when they recite their lines together.
The set for this hour and twenty minute tragedy is striking, featuring a floor that is a broken, tilted sphere, with infernal steam rising from a crack in the middle at dramatic moments. Unfortunately, there is so little sense of direction in this production that the various actors appear to be acting in different plays.
“Medea”, Civic Theatre, 527 North 19th Street, Allentown, March 12 through March 15, 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday $16, Friday and Saturday $18, $2 off for seniors and students except Saturday, 610-432-8943, www.civictheatre.com.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
As the play opens at Allentown’s Civic Theatre, a member of the chorus strides down the aisle chanting (in Hebrew, for some unknown reason). Then the Nurse (Trina Johnson-Brady) enters and delivers a monologue to explain what has happened so far. At the same time, offstage Medea is mourning her fate as the wife of a man who has spurned her to marry a younger woman.
Johnson-Brady’s angry ranting reaches an emotional peak not matched by the rest of the play. And Medea’s wailing from behind the set’s door makes her sound like a wounded moose, so much so that it is startling to see a composed woman when she finally appears on stage.
Emily Abruzzi’s Medea comes to life, full of scheming, hatred, duplicity, and seductiveness. She interprets Medea as a woman who has gone mad, instead of one who is intrinsically evil. This unusual approach works for her character, as she begins in a restrained fashion and lets her emotions build as the story progresses.
Matthew Stitzer, as Medea’s husband Jason, plays his part as if he were William Shatner in a remake of “Jason and the Argonauts”. His vain and studly Jason is wonderful in its own way, but his over-the-top performance does not mesh with Abruzzi’s classical approach.
He is not helped by his appearance, which seems to feature a low-priced Masters of the Universe Halloween costume and what appears to be a pair of galoshes. For some reason, all the women here are dressed like Classical Greeks, while the men wear modern footwear with varying mixtures of Ancient Greek and modern clothes.
Michael Combs gives a flat reading as the Tutor. Tom Onuschco is regal enough as King Kreon, father of Jason’s intended bride, who condescendingly gives Medea one more day before her banishment. Tony Kohl’s character seems a little modern, but he adds the necessary comic relief as the aged King Aigeus.
Shawn Salevsky is sufficiently dramatic as the Messenger describing the offstage results of Medea’s revenge, although his Jersey accent is a bit jarring. The nine young women in the chorus are fine individually, but sound overly strident when they recite their lines together.
The set for this hour and twenty minute tragedy is striking, featuring a floor that is a broken, tilted sphere, with infernal steam rising from a crack in the middle at dramatic moments. Unfortunately, there is so little sense of direction in this production that the various actors appear to be acting in different plays.
“Medea”, Civic Theatre, 527 North 19th Street, Allentown, March 12 through March 15, 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday $16, Friday and Saturday $18, $2 off for seniors and students except Saturday, 610-432-8943, www.civictheatre.com.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)