CityLife

Medea

Medea
The Lowry
April 13, 2010

Let's face it, Greek tragedy isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I'm a huge fan of the excellent Northern Broadsides and have long admired the ethos of a company which brings the classics vividly to life using strong regional accents to hone in on the truth of the text.

It seems I'm not alone, as the Quays Theatre audience contained a mixture of students and adults also intrigued by Broadsides' version of one of the most shocking of Greek dramas.

In this vibrant new version by playwright Tom Paulin, with musical accompaniment from the Chorus and Fine Time Fontayne as Aegeus, this tale of betrayal and revenge fairly leaps off the page and onto the stage.

The early dramatists usually wrote about great heroes or kings so it's rare to see a play from that era with a woman as the central character - and what a woman. Euripides created this monster two and a half thousand years ago and yet her story has inspired others to write both plays and operas.

There's a strong cast led by Nina Kristofferson who is compelling as Medea. She'd saved the life of Jason, (of Argonauts' fame) played by Andrew Pollard killing her brother in the process. She'd left home to  marry him, borne him two sons and is newly abandoned and banished because he wants to marry King Creon's daughter.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Medea exacts the ultimate revenge by leaving a trail of death  including matricide. Even now when we read similar stories it's still  incomprehensible to us as it breaks all the rules of human society.

Played straight through without an interval, this is an interesting production directed by Founding Director Barrie Rutter, who also plays King Creon. However it's hard to empathise with any of the characters and it's certainly not a play for the faint-hearted.

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