Medea

I was very excited to see this play, i'm quite a fan of the original version and when i heard that it had been adapted to modern times i was...i want to say intrigued?

anyhow, we all know Medea, a woman who was cheated on by her husband Jason, she then proceeds to go absolutely b'zerk and kills the king his daughter and her own children thereby leaving jason completely screwed.

The play really worked visually, at least for me. I think from the very beginning there was an atmosphere that was created with the Nodriza, her monologue was really good, the positioning of her body along with the overly large hips really made the eye dance, the lighting during that part was also quite effective and it could have really failed since it was complicated to deliver the lines realistically and still manage for the audience to see the actors faces and facial expressions. this is one of the first problems I had with the play, the teacher/old man person wasn’t very good, I think he thought he was doing good and probably was but the costume design for him (especially the glasses that blocked his facial expressions from transmitting anything to the audience) and the overall awareness of the light was rather poor, in fact when he left and appeared again later on I couldn’t even remember who he was.
So then I came to realize one of the major challenges an actor faces during a performance, because as actors we need to push through what is on us and who/what is next to us so that we can stand out individually and make the play better but still manage to not break the atmosphere and “reality” the play creates so that we feel as we are part of any play we’re in and not stand out for the wrong reasons (being the odd one out, the one that doesn’t quite fit the atmosphere created.)
Still talking about the beginning, there was background music playing as the Nodriza said the opening monologue, it was like a soft ringing that I think was put there by the director to “create tension” and I think it worked on some level but then it stopped making sense, in fact, mixed with the screaming of Medea it was kind of an overkill, foreshadowing the overall result of the play, but we’ll chat about that later.
The metal panels from the beginning worked really well, it was quite fantastic to see the coppery colors contrast with the Nodriza’s costume and when she opened them to reveal the coir was a very powerful image.
The children we’re also effective visually, however the acting right from the start was not convincing enough, you could tell they were kind of confused on stage, almost intimidated, so i come to the conclusion that working with child actors is very difficult because you can’t be as hard on them yet you can’t baby them along the way and they’re pretty much unpredictable so it’s a challenge for a director and maybe the other actors can come to be frustrated with them, however in my experience in the school plays it is usually the child actors who are much more responsible than the older ones.

When the metal panels are opened the chorus is revealed, they are all in intricate positions in beds, their costume is very good and the makeup is also effective, they have an eerie feel to them, however I do think the costume was a bit restraining for them, so much more physical work could have been done with them thus exploiting their full potential, performance wise. I think the beds were some sort of Qorihuaman-ish, it’s nice to see other directors be inspired by other plays but, it came to be too literal, too Qorihuaman (in fact, the unnecessary naked person in the end bathed in one beam of light was also Qorihuaman.) so, how do we take an inspiration either as performers or directors and make it our own? it is very complicated to find that balance when something inspires us, we need to make it our own so that the audience is aware of the effort and hard work that was put into that particular aspect but still manage to keep it’s essence so that the inspiration is recognizable, at least by the cast and crew.

Now, the room in which the play develops is quite good looking as well and it mixed beautifully with the other elements and colors, creating striking contrast between them, for example when the coir is rambling about, the Nodriza is seen standing there listening, just listening but her costume really stood out, this is a clear example of how a design concept can very much elevate the overall look of a play and sometimes razzle dazzle (...se que no te gustan los musicales, pero, chicago, seriously) the inexperienced audience, I’m not trying to separate the herd here but having any form of theatre studies rather than just going to the theatre because it’s “fancy” really changes our perspective on plays, our reactions change as well because we know more hence we are much more picky and notice every little detail, if this is not happening then our education has failed, i’m sorry but it’s true, you see, how will we ever be able to construct a play if we don’t even know what makes a good play, sure it depends but the fact that a play has to work to be good is true in every theatre form and tradition. This is what we refer to the curse of the IB, we are stripped from our childlike innocence, we stop thinking that when something glitters, it’s better and we begin to notice why it glitters and why that particular way of glittering, going beyond what we see and try to see things from the director of that particular play so that we can understand the play better.

In terms of the acting, Medea was the definite stand out of the play, her voice her body movement, everything worked majestically and it could have been easy to get lost along the gimmicks of the play but her performance is a perfect example of what i was yapping about earlier, an actor must stand out but still keep the reality constant. Every single detail of her performance was great, when she spoke she sounded like Scar from The lion king (one of the most haunting villains to me, the voice the facial expressions, everything.) and sometimes flowed to a more Ursula-ish way. She managed to portray Medea’s insanity, rage and hate very convincingly so much so that in the moments she was speaking it worked beautifully but it was the moments were she was quiet, just standing still in a corner (when she was in the second level of the house) contorted to her own feelings and betrayal, those images were haunting and were the little moments that made that play worthwhile. Even when she was shown happy and very nice instead of trying to kill people it was fantastic, I really enjoyed her scene with the traveling king Egeo, they had very good chemistry together and gave a weird uncle-little niece vibe, it was really sweet to see her reacting and treating him with love almost, she razzle dazzled me because she was doing that to be able to kill her kids, i found myself really rooting for a murderer. which leads me to one of the main reasons why i was doing this, jason.

Holy mother of god, this man, the little bacteria that dragged himself out of Mil oficios and other crappy form of television managed to land the role of Jason, one that has many colors and a large spectre of intentions and ways to fulfill them. there were times he needed to be flirty or times where he needed to be infuriated and he just flatlined, his monotone voice lack of gestures mannerisms movements and ability to water every garden in the district with half a monologue made me squirm with disgust and just plain dislike.
This is a perfect example of stunt casting, why couldn’t the director or if you must be fancyshmancy the “casting director” hire another actor, a less known one that can provide the range of emotions needed and if he was stuck with him by the forces of a mystical being why didn’t the director DIRECT him, why didn’t she tell him he was doing things wrong and showed him how to do it, for such an elaborate production it is really hard to believe that the director was unable to see his lackluster performance, and if she didn’t then boy, i recommend her to reexamine her career choice. Maybe she was intimidated by his superstar status in peru (...maybe not) or maybe she was afraid to hurt his feelings (which is unlikely because she did manage to get the man naked.) so, how do we as directors manage to tell an actor he’s a bad one? and if so, how do you teach him/how to act? is it possible to learn? if it were, let’s face it, the whole school would come to audition for the plays and we’d have to create a role for every single one. can we truly learn HOW to act? well, i say no. the raw goods have to be there and we are taught what to do with them, we are taught techniques to enhance our performances and then it is our job to utilize them to our advantage.
there was a particular technique that i wanted to like but didn’t really work for me, when Jason and Medea acted together and things got a little rough, so to speak they would eat each others faces, this sounds very powerful in theory but again, it became to gimmicky and Jason was not helping either, this is a perfect example of bad or a lack of editing (something that seemed to be a virus that infected the whole play.), as i said in previous entries directors need to be able to edit and step out of their ego and leave their pride behind and say “hey, this doesn’t work, let’s take it out.” and if they don’t do that the play becomes a mess of gimmicks that really, as a whole do not work. If the director doesn’t do that, then the actors could notice it and maybe plant the little evil seed in the director’s brain.

I could talk forever on how the play was filled with overkill but there is one aspect i need to reflect on: the music.
Slight sound effects like the ringing worked, almost but didn’t really fit in with the play, mainly because the play itself is overly dramatic and is perfect for building tension.
I have always loved the idea of atmospheric music that creates tension, that tingly sensation that something bad is going to happen (one of the reasons why i love desperate housewives) BUT sometimes, it is beautiful to strip the play from that music and just let the text and actions speak for themselves, the music is yet another example of how the director got too much involved with the drama and hypnotized by it, it was just TOO much drama so much that it felt kind of funny, kind of soap operaish and editing is again, key. Maybe it was a poor choice of music, the music played during “tense” moments didn’t really fit them whereas the music in the end, when the audience began to leave was fantastic, it’s a shame they didn’t use that during the play.

The television.
One of my favorite aspects from greek tragedies is their ability to narrate the most dramatic and shocking/violent moments instead of actually showing them, this was attempted however it was stripped of the drama. Strangely here is a case where the director should have kept things as dramatic as they were on the original version instead of trying to go along with the modernized concept, she gave some lines to the Nodriza (who in my opinion was very much capable to deliver that monologue) and gave others to a television, she gave the strongest lines to the televisions thereby losing the shock factor and just leaving us wanting more. This is a perfect example of how the adaptation of the text to modern time was not effective and in this case, the director had complete power to eliminate this from the script and change it back to the traditional form. Sometimes classic is better.

The murdering of the children was not effective for me, there was too much build up and unfortunately no result. Their scream came completely indifferent to me, i didn’t really care because, as with the television, this is another case of how the drama was taken away from the play, the children were off stage so they were perfectly capable of “encouraging” (muahahha) them to scream louder and more in pain. It would have been perfect to see Medea with the bodies or a little bit of blood BUT again, here is a case where there was editing in all the wrong places.
Medea then proceeds to leave, descending to god knows where, first of all she was supposed to go to egeo’s land and not descend to hell or wherever. In the actual play she leaves on a chariot of fire triumphantly and swiftly, this being her victory dance, i killed your kids and BAM! i’m leaving like a f****ing winner, catch me. However it worked with the sound, her voice was ethereal and haunting, this is a case of how the director successfully using technology for a play’s advantage.

Overall i really did want to like the play, there were little moments that made me jump in my seat with joy and excitement (Medea standing in the corner, the sudden light changes, the curtain falling) but these, when they came together became TOO MUCH, they became a whole lot to take in, which makes me wonder when doing a play that is dramatic in itself, how do we know what the balance is to make it lower the level a bit, give the audience time to breathe? and in terms of acting, what do we do when an actor stands to much amongst the crowd? and how do we properly tell an actor he can’t act?

robbieeeeee no se que paso, se guardo en borrador pero no se publcioo, no me pongas dfetencioon.