Medea
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Cititour.com Review
“Medea. I’ve just met a girl named Medea.” Or so you would think that might happen within a few minutes of entering BAM’s Harvey Theater, where Australian writer-director Simon Stone has put his singular stamp on the famed Greek tragedy. But even though the work is still called “Medea,” the main character is now named Anna; she’s a doctor not a sorceress, and the setting is, as far as one can tell, modern-day America. (The bare white box is by Bob Cousins).
As for the plot – well, let’s just say it’s the same as Euripides’ original in some ways and it’s quite different in so many others that you’ll even begin to wonder if Anna’s kids (played at my performance by Gabriel Amoroso and Emeka Gundo) will avoid the gruesome fate that usually befalls them, Moreover, as the evening progresses, this bracing 80-minute adaptation blends the ancient myth with everything from “Madame Butterfly” to “Marriage Story” to put some newer spins on the age-old tale.
Yet, even when Stone’s plotting and dialogue feels a bit a reductive, and the direction and video design (by Julia Frey) seems a tad too reminiscent of Ivo Van Hove, the production fortunately has one thing that never fails it: an ideal interpreter in the extraordinary Rose Byrne, who gives an sometimes seductive, sometimes terrifying and consistently intense performance as Anna. Moreover, she has the perfect scene partner in her real-life partner, the great Bobby Cannavale, who brings surprising depth to her occasionally caring and mostly callous ex-husband Lucas. (One can only hope that doing this play nightly is some form of an act of catharsis for the couple!)
We quickly learn that even before the action we’re viewing has begun, Anna has been driven quite mad by an act of infidelity on Lucas’ part; he’s slept with Clara (Madeline Weinstein), the spoiled 24-year-old daughter of the powerful Christopher (a fine Dylan Baker), the head of the research lab where Lucas and Anna worked – she was originally his superior – and where Lucas has continued to thrive while Anna has been in some form of institution.
Now released, Anna is convinced – albeit, without any basis in reality – that she can re-form her family, perhaps in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Lucas, a bit weak of will, tries for a while to seemingly have his cake and eat it too (essentially to protect his children), but ultimately chooses to build a new life – and family – with Clara once Christopher makes it abundantly clear that doing so is the only way his career will continue to ascend. (Like in Euripides, ambition always wins!) It’s not a decision Anna takes well to say the least.
Even if one sees “Medea” as a morality tale, I do wish that Stone had bothered to openly address Anna’s underlying and perhaps lifelong battle with mental illness. (No matter how one feels about marital infidelity, her initial “revenge” upon Lucas is not the act of a sane person.) Indeed, a therapist would have proved a far more useful extra character than Herbert, the kindly owner of the bookshop (Victor Alamanzar) where Anna ends up working, or Elsbeth (Jordan Boatman), the completely ineffectual social worker who periodically checks up on Anna and the children. Or perhaps the absence of a psychologist is actually Stone's point, and, therefore, the story's greatest tragedy.
Either way, the work painfully reminds us that, as it has been for eternity, hell hath no fury as a woman scorned -- especially one that has been mistreated both by one man personally and a male society that devalues women’s contributions to it besides sex and motherhood!
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.bam.org/
Cast
Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Dylan Baker, Victor Almanzar, Gabriel Amoroso, Jordan Boatman, Emeka Gundo, Orson Hong, Jolly Swag and Madeline Weinstein
Open/Close Dates
Opening 1/12/2020
Closing 3/8/2020
Theatre Info
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton St
Neighborhood: Fort Greene
Brooklyn, NY 11217
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