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Medea in ancient Greek

In a very late response (I’ve been out of the country and squashed by an increasing plethora of things-to-do) to Stephen Sharkey‘s question on Medea in ancient Greek, I enjoyed it immensely.

I have the advantange of having seen a few Ancient Greeks plays now.

One crucial experience that you miss in English is the poetry and musicality of the ancient Greek. It is far closer to song than it is to speech. Perhaps in some ways it is akin to a musical theatre form (!)

One advantage is the timelessness of the story. The Greeks knew the story and the ending and so do we, so the actual exact meaning of any sentence is perhaps not so important as it would be for a new play.

In that sense, Faust, Romeo and Juliet, Greek tragedy and the Titanic all have that in common. You know what is going to happen: the ship hits the iceberg. So, you do not have to worry about the story in the same way as for most new plays. [This from a structural point of view is an important difference between Punchdrunk's Faust and Masque of the Red Death.] This is also a structural difference often between some musicals eg West Side Story, Dirty Dancing and a new play. The audience that goes to Dirty Dancing knows the story.

Medea is well-known but for those who do not quite know the details the ending may be problematic. Medea is taken away in a chariot. It is a “God intervenees” moment.

For a modern audience this can be somewhat disatisfying as we find it harder to believe in such events. However, I thought this was resolved well by the use of a helicopter in the play but I know some in the audience found this confusing but I think it is probably a structural feature of the original story. Medea is plucked away by her God relatives.
The actual performances were brilliant. My one potentially critical thought was compared to previous years, I thought the chorus in this version of Medea were not as coherent or as musical. There is a quality very beguiling, sonorous and beautiful when I have heard the chorus chant/sing in unison or with an aspect of chorus character.

The power of Medea particularly shines through. A woman so wronged that she would kill her children in an act of revenge. I would put the performance on a par with Fiona Shaw’s. My viewing of Shaw’s performance was equally powerful but I felt Shaw in places manipulated the audience into laughing or gasping, where as Marta Zlatic used the power fo the language and obvious desperation of intention to draw you into Medea’s version of events.

The direction was inventive and strong as ever but perhaps not as fluid as the previous Greek play mainly due to more static nature of the chorus and less musical choice of delivery but perhaps it suited the play more.

All in all, a brilliant show to see. Perhaps it feels like a Russian only-speaker knowing Shakespeare’s play but only in Russian going to the Globe to hear them in English for the first time. An experience worth going for.

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  • About me

    I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.

  • Recent Work

    Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).

  • Nakamitsu

  • Yellow Gentlemen