This fall, I am taking English 200. An assignment for a portion of the class grade is to go see a theatre performance in Bowling Green. I chose to see “Medea” by Euripides. Medea was written in 431 BC. The version of Medea that I saw was translated by Carol Jordan. I saw the performance on Thursday, November 7, 2019, in the Russell H. Miller Theatre in the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center (FAC). The main genre of this play is tragedy. Medea is a Greek tragedy written by Euripides, about a woman exiled from Corinth by Creon, and how she plans to plot her revenge for all of the love she has lost, whether it be her love for Creon, her ex-husband, or even her children. The significance of Medea is that a sane woman became crazy.
In the first act, Medea is introduced. Medea is the protagonist. We learn right off the bat that Medea married this guy named Jason. Jason is the leader of the Argonauts. The Argonauts were an army of war heroes from Greek mythology. They were around the years after the Trojan War (1300 BC). Jason needed Medea’s help to obtain the Golden Fleece. They married after Medea’s successful help. They would go on to have two children. The play at WKU used a boy and a girl, online it has different versions, boy girl, boy, boy. All was great until Jason decided it would be best if he remarried. Jason chose to remarry to Creon King of Corinth’s daughter, Glauce. Everyone had heard that Medea had come from a place where witches and barbarians were born, Colchis; The Greeks consider Colchis to be the edge of the earth. Creon fears that Medea will return to being violet since she has already been killed in the past. Creon exiles and banishes Medea and her children. He gives them a day to get their things together, but after they must be gone. “Exile: banishment: go where you may, Medea, but here You abide no more.” (Page 15). Creon ordered Medea to leave. Medea is outraged that she is exiled, after all that she has done for Jason. It was she who saved the Golden Fleece from the dragon. Medea also reminds Jason about how she killed her brother for him.
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Medea then visits with Aegeus. Aegeus is the King of Athens but has never had a child. Aegeus asks Medea for help. “When death comes, Medea, it is, for a childless man, utter despair, darkness, extinction. One’s children are the life after death.” (Page 23). MEDEA: “You want a child?” (Page 23). Aegeus and Medea come to an understanding that Aegeus cannot help Medea get to Athens whatsoever. But if Medea does make it to Athens, she can find shelter in Athens with Aegeus. Medea says that she will come but that she has matters to tend to first. Medea plans to gift Glauce with a robe and crown covered in poison. Poison that will hopefully kill both Glauce and Creon.
Act II starts with Medea’s plan. Medea has soaked a robe and crown in poison. Medea gives the gifts to her children as gift bearers, figuring this would make it inconspicuous. Her plan works, Glauce and Creon die slow deaths beside one another. Medea ponders if she should kill her children or not, but then deems their death more glorious than their being alive. The play ends with Jason talking to Medea one last time. He asks her for the children’s bodies, but she has already flown off on her way towards Athens.
I believe that the “inciting incident” of Medea was at the beginning of the play when Jason divorced her. This infused Medea’s wrath and infused her with rage from the start. Was there a deus ex machina? It translates to “God from the machine”. Deus ex machina is when a playwright uses a surprise to resolve their conflict. The surprise in Medea is that she flees to Athens in a fire chariot with her dead children, just when Jason is going to kill her.
In my opinion, I believe that the themes of Medea are passion and rage. We know that passion is what motivates people. Medea had a passion for carrying out her wants. She sought to it that Creon and Glauce be punished and that her two children be taken out of their misery. She followed through on her goals. I believe that Medea is one hundred percent the inspiration behind the theme. A woman with passion, who does not need a man to marry her for her to complete a task. Medea is showing how her passion is stronger than a man’s.
Dr. Guthrie, I saw the play on November 7, Thursday. I also kept my program from the show. This past Black Friday, my car was broken into. I cannot make this up, it has not happened by my house in years. They rearranged all of my belongings. I no longer have access to my Medea program. I do recall several actors and their roles.
The young African-American gentleman who played the character of Aegeus. He was a splendid actor. He had so much energy, and you could tell he knew all of his lines.
The woman who played Medea was also gifted in what she did. She had quite an exorbitant amount of lines to remember I’m sure.
The predominantly female cast was something I did not expect going into this theatre production, but they were fantastic. So much energy and each individual knew their role and executed so.
I also would like to briefly touch on the children of Jason and Medea. They were not played by real-life people. They were dolls and were moved by 4 stagehands dressed in all black. This was done I guess because they do not have any speaking roles. I think that although it was a little bizarre at first, it added to the mystery of the play.
LEADER: But, my lady, to kill your own two sons?
MEDEA: It is the supreme way to hurt my husband. (Act 1 L45)
This is when Medea is starting to lose her sense of love. From here on out, she acts out of spite for how she has been treated all this time.
The setting was interesting. You walk in and sit in a classic stage setting. A section of seats trickles down to a stage. The stage contained a lot of open space, open-facing chairs, and a white curtain that you could see through. There was also a part above the curtain that was covered with two big gates. It would show itself later to be Medea’s ride to Athens, Greece. The play starts with a lot of music, and Medea is shrieking in pain because of the way she’s been treated. The setting depicts the period accurately, I think. There was dim lighting, and no electricity like we have now. The screams and music helped set the scene for the actors’ performances. This setting helped create an accurate depiction of the period.
The costumes were accurate for the period. All the non-royal women were wearing what looked like “rags” because they probably did not have much money to spend. Glauce was wearing a nice gown. Creon was wearing all white. Aegeus was wearing an all-teal suit. It was a real eye-catcher.
The lighting was great. At the beginning of the play, all of the room was black except for the sheet where screaming Medea was. That was a powerful, scary moment. It was a time when Medea’s pain was made clear through her screams.
The only special effect that I really noticed was all of the work that was done with Medea’s transportation device at the end of the play. 2 big gates fling open! POW! Medea is inside what looks sort of like a hot air balloon. It is her ticket to Athens, where Aegeus will keep her safe. She bids Jason a farewell, and the play ends.
All of the singing and dancing were rehearsed for hours. It was fantastic and it was a good use of transitions.
The overall significance of Medea is that at one point in her life, she was not crazy. The significance of this play is that it is more real-world than we think. A woman gives her everything to a man, and when he leaves her, devastation, grief, and rage take their place. The play takes on the idea of “what does it mean to be human?”. This play puts Medea under a microscope. At one point, she had slain the dragon and was a mother of two beautiful children. When her husband left her for another woman, it was detrimental. Especially in the period Medea lived in, where a husband was essential to conducting a life. The woman did not work, so how could she take care of herself? Medea takes on the role of what it means to be alone, and how do you become better from that.
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