{"id":663,"date":"2024-12-04T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/?p=663"},"modified":"2024-12-22T10:57:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T10:57:51","slug":"medea-vs-medea-adapting-the-ancient-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/medea-vs-medea-adapting-the-ancient-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"Medea<\/em> vs Medea<\/em>: Adapting the Ancient Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Antonia Tsamouris<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medea<\/em>. Directed by Simon Stone. Dramaturgy by Peter Van Kraaij. Translation into Dutch by Peter Van Kraaij and Vera Hoogstad. Set design by Bob Cousins. Lighting design by Bernie van Velzen. Costumes by An D\u2019Huys. Cast: Marieke Heebink, Alexander Elmecky, Bart Slegers, Eva Heijnen, Evgenia Brendes, Leon Voorberg, Mente Wijsman, Fedy Bakker. Staged at Pallas Theatre, Athens, Greece, 9\u201311 July 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Stone, the Australian enfant terrible of modern European theatre, has adapted Euripides\u2019 myth of Medea into a contemporary play. Inspired by a family tragedy that took place in the United States in 1996, where a mother killed her two children and then set fire to them and herself, he highlighted problematic relationships, especially marital ones, and their disastrous consequences that could lead to horrific actions, such as killing one\u2019s own children. That way, Stone wanted to discuss the survival of ancient myths through the ages. Although he tried to deliver a modern insight into Euripides\u2019 tragedy, he did not manage to impart a modern essence to Medea.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Marieke Heebink as Anna. In the background, Eva Heijnen as Clara with Anna\u2019s two sons, dancing and playing in the ashes that will eventually burn all of them. Photo: Sanne-Peper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Medea was a barbarian, according to the ancient Greeks, who assumed anyone but Greeks to be barbarians, lacking their education and cultivation. Furthermore, Medea, coming from Colchis, near the Black Sea, was a descendant both of Circe, the witch who held Odysseus for a year with her magic and her allurement, and the Sun God (Helios)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medea\u2019s unsurpassable charms and courage were what gained Jason the Golden Fleece. Because of her love for Jason, she did not hesitate to go to extremes, killing her own brother and abandoning her homeland and family. She followed Jason to Greece, as a ks\u0113nos<\/em> (foreigner), where she had a new family with him. However, Medea met Jason\u2019s ingratitude when he left her for a younger Greek princess, who could later make him King\u2014only by marrying a Greek princess could Jason become King\u2014something Medea could not offer to him, being non-Greek. Medea\u2019s despair, as well as her anger against Jason\u2019s cruelty, led her to the decision to kill both his bride-to-be and her father, as well as her own beloved sons. The Euripidean tragedy finishes with Medea\u2019s abduction on her grandfather Helios\u2019s chariot, unpunished by both divine and human law. That way, the ancient tragedian dared, within a male dominated society, to show Medea as a brave woman, in a performance exclusively by and for men. At the same time, Jason was presented as a feeble man, deserving neither the wife nor the family that he had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Stone named his tragedy Medea<\/em>, he named his leading couple Anna and Lucas, respectively. Changing their names and structurally stepping in the tragedy\u2019s footsteps, nonetheless, did not modernize the play. Anna, who has been married for many years to Lucas, ends up in a mental hospital after having tried to poison him, having found out about his illicit relationship with a younger woman, Clara. The play starts on the day when Anna returns to their family house, only to discover that she has not only lost her husband to another woman but also the custody of her two sons, as well as her job, since she worked as a doctor at the research center that Clara\u2019s father led.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Marieke Heebink as Anna, begging Clara\u2019s Father (Bart Slegers) to allow her to keep her job. Photo: Sanne-Peper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Struggling to maintain whatever she can of her previous life, she is driven to insanity once more and ends up killing Clara and her father, as well as her sons. In a change from Euripides\u2019 tragedy, Stone\u2019s heroine commits suicide, showing her weakness in a society which obviously favours men like Lucas.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Marieke Heebink as Anna and her two sons being burnt. Photo: Dim-Balsem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lucas, on the other hand, is depicted as a naughty adolescent having no responsibilities whatsoever, always carried away by other people\u2019s desires: he goes to bed with Anna because she seduces him, and he impregnates Clara because her father tells him to. Stone opted for a theatre play based on social clich\u00e9s, assuming that men are, for some inexplicable reason, inevitably driven by their instincts to fall for young women, thus abandoning their wives to depression and insanity. These ideas would much better belong to the well-made plays of the previous century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stone\u2019s mise-en-sc\u00e8ne, <\/em>however,<\/em> was much more interesting and artistically stimulating than his text. The performance followed, especially in the beginning, a twofold approach using both the stage action and a camera on a projection to show what was actually happening on stage. The stage action along with the video projection introduced the audience into a parallel sense of \u201creality,\u201d where a documentation may be distanced from what is been documented.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Clara (Eva Heijnen) looks on a projection of Anna (Marieke Heebink) and her son after Anna and Lucas have spent the night together. Photo: Sanne-Peper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Quite interesting also was the totally white stage design, resembling both the mental hospital from which Anna has returned and her lost purity and love for Lucas. Towards the end, black ashes begin to fall on stage, growing into a huge hill covering everything and everyone, except for Lucas, thus signifying the imminent death both of Clara and her father, as well as Anna\u2019s two sons and herself. That way, those implicated in a wrong deed are presented as being equal in punishment: both Clara and her father, who encouraged the break-up of a marriage and the destruction of a family, and the couple\u2019s two adolescent sons, whose effort to keep their family together led also to disastrous results. Stone\u2019s ashes also signified the \u201cdirt\u201d that was brought into Anna\u2019s life with Lucas\u2019 extramarital relationship, as well as the fire, reminding the audience of the American family, the playwright\u2019s original inspiration. Either way, it was a very innovative and intriguing scenic and directorial effect, with its reference to the Euripidean Medea\u2019s uplifting by King Helios, whose light and warmth is able to burn anything and anyone nearing him.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Eva Heijnen as Clara and Bart Slegers as her Father after having been murdered by Anna, covered with the ashes of the murderous act. Photo: Dim-Balsem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Marieke Heebink was fascinating as Anna, trying to highlight the dead-end that can confront modern women. Heebink depicted Anna\u2019s despair at losing the life she had, just because she is growing old. Leon Voorberg\u2019s Lucas was gripping as an attention-seeker, bringing tragedy to everyone\u2019s life, including his own. Torn between the life he had and a new one, Voorberg highlighted the hesitancy of modern post-middle age men. Eva Heijnen\u2019s Clara was also interesting, since her character is not seen in the ancient tragedy but was put on stage by Stone. Heijnen realistically depicted a modern, young, spoiled woman who steals somebody else\u2019s man without hesitation, indifferent to the consequences in other people\u2019s lives. Bart Slegers as Clara\u2019s Father, as well as Anna\u2019s and Lucas\u2019 boss, managed to depict the authoritarian capitalist who intervenes in everyone\u2019s life, dictating to them what to do. Accustomed to taking whatever he wants, he assumes that people are like enterprises. Last, the psychiatrist (Evgenia Brendes) and the librarian (Alexander Elmecky), in whose bookstore Anna later seeks for a job, eloquently replace the ancient Chorus, taking the part of the ancient d\u012bmos (<\/em>people).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Marieke Heebink as Anna, watched by Alexander Elmecky as the owner of a bookstore where Anna went to work. He serves the purpose of the ancient chorus. Photo: Dim-Balsem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Overall, Simon Stone\u2019s adaptation of Medea<\/em> proved problematic. Stone tried to follow in the footsteps of the ancient tragedy, failing, though, to maintain Euripides\u2019 essence and finally delivering a play with a much less feminist approach than the original tragedy. His stimulating mise-en-sc\u00e8ne, however, shows that his scenic talent is certainly better than his writing one. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*<\/a>Antonia Tsamouris<\/strong> holds a BA in Theatre Studies (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and an MA in Drama and Theatre Studies (Royal Holloway University of London). She holds a PhD and a Post-doctoral thesis from the School of English (Aristotle University). Member of the Greek section of IATC and of the Board of the Hellenic Association of Theatre and Performing Arts Critics (Secretary), as well as of the Board of Directors\u2019 at the Edward Albee Society. She has contributed with articles and reviews in many magazines and books, both in Greece and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2024 Antonia Tsamouris
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em>, #30, Dec. 2024
e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Creative<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2024\/12\/image5-3.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}