Medea response_Paul Ahn
Medea begins with a monologue which is given by presumably the nurse that takes care of Medea and her children. The monologue serves as not only a dramatic piece in which the nurse initiates the grave and dark nature of the play but also a good background setter for audience. The monologue allows the audience to know what has happened with Medea so far. It is short but it delivers the main point of the beginning of the story; the fact that Medea has been betrayed. The first thing I noticed about Medea (limited to this version) is that the play seemed very dialog oriented. There were no exact detailed set pieces that showed the audience what they were doing or what was happening. It helped me focus more on to each characters emotions and their mannerisms in which allowed the plot to roll on smoothly but at the same time I had to make sure catch each word carefully in order to not miss a plot point. This of course makes sense since Medea was written and performed in the ancient times and technology that allows virulent props to exist in the moder time was not there. All they had was minor props and acting.
That being said, the performance of the actress who played Medea was marvelous. Medea’s back and forth of becoming docile in order to achieve her goal then suddenly becoming furiously maddening again was acted thoroughly. The narrowing of the eyes and the gaunt stare completes the grief stricken and yet thirsty for revenge Medea. When she converses with Aegeus about his condition and the prospect of children, Medea’s hatred reaches to her children and Medea’s dialogue with Aegeus gives Medea epiphany. Medea decides to kill Galuce, the child of Creon, wife of her ex husband, as well as her children since her children is her husband’s children. When she speaks of her plan actress does well in showing how her madness for revenge overcomes her love for her family and she will do anything to succeed in her vengeance “I loathe you more than I love them”.
I think the whole play really plays into the psyche of a woman who has been betrayed by her lover. The ancient greeks called love a curse not a gift and Medea really expresses it well. At the end when Jason begs Medea to return his children’s body, the actresses must express Medea’s realization, through her doing and the whole ordeal she has now become a complete foreigner to this land. She leaves Jason behind to his grief and disappears completing her revenge but also leaving everything that was about her. Everything that Madea has taken away from Jason “Hopeless, friendless, mateless, childless” has already been taken away from Medea since the beginning of the play and that is the reason why she was able to murder her own children. It is this “nothing to lose” set of mind that actress had to play. It seemed to me the distant empty stare she gives during her monologue/dialogue really plays that well.