BWW Reviews: Modern MEDEA is a Tragic Treat

For a displaced American drama geek, what could be better than dropping into Dublin's fair city at the very height of theatre season? On my very first day as a Dubliner, I found myself amidst upwards of 600 performances on offer throughout the city as part of the 16th annual Dublin Fringe Festival.

One of the most heralded was Euripides' Medea at Trinity College's Samuel Beckett Theatre. The world premiere production put a 21st Century twist on the epic Greek tragedy with a script adapted by playwright Robin Robertson. The story seems made for a modern setting, if only because its theme is so eternal. Indeed, the vengeful woman scorned could be the subject of any primetime TV drama or news report detailing bitter custody battles and parental kidnappings. Medea's difference has always lain in the horrifying lengths to which she goes to exact her revenge.

The title role was played convincingly by Eileen Walsh. From the opening montage, which has the actors melting and swerving around the set like modern dancers, Walsh uses her entire body to portray Medea's mounting rage. More importantly, she manages to do so without lapsing into madness. As the Greek chorus reminds us, Medea's crimes are born, not of insanity, but of pure vengeance and Walsh does well to avoid the trap of playing her too zany. Walsh has an easy chemistry with Stuart Graham's Jason and the two have some of their best moments during the plays' brief comic scenes.

All of the action plays out in Medea and Jason's home, laid out by set designer Paul O'Mahonry like a dollhouse pried open to revel four rooms cut by a narrowing center staircase. Characters dart in and out of the rooms; Medea's bedroom where she writhes in agony over her husband's betrayal, the children's loft complete with bunk beds, a living room with a working flat screen TV, and a dining room where the family and servants periodically gather around the table. Director Selina Cartmell furthers the intimacy with the audience by employing aisles and balconies for some of the action and having the traditional Greek chorus--represented by a lone woman in a trench coat and boots-seated in the front row for much of the show. Conor Linehan's eerie underscoring adds a further level of doom throughout the play until its bloody dénouement, which plays out against a backdrop of silence.

Medea's final act seems all the more despicable given the play's modernization. The desperation of her position as a lowly woman in ancient Greece, without rights or recourse, is not relevant in modern times where women have a slew of options to strike back against adulterous husbands. So when this Medea persists with her heartless plans, any pity is replaced by disgust. And surely that is a sign of classical drama at its finest.

ABSOLUT Fringe wraps up this weekend but right on its heels in the Dublin Theatre Festival, which promises a similar multitude of quality plays, musicals, and dance pieces.

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