The Oxford Greek Play 2002: Medea

You've attended lectures/meetings all day, and they all seem greek to you, so why should you pay to go to a play in greek? Well, this has subtitles, for a start. It takes a while to get used to it, but by the end of the introductory aria, one should have been able to ease into the spirit of things. Just like the highlighted physical features of the actors, the actors' expressions are overt and emphatic and there will be no subtle nuance missed in between reading the subtitles and assessing the present situation.

Medea is no ordinary woman. Her curriculum vitae includes helping Jason snitch the Golden Fleece, tearing apart her own brother to stop her father's pursuit, and persuading patricide in another land to save her own skin. It would seem decimating her own children wouldn't be too far out of her repertoire. However, her internal struggle is well put across, and her argument well reiterated by a nine-strong chorus who provide harmony amidst an otherwise discordant situation, and the audience will find themselves facing a similar struggle in deciding whether to sympathize with her situation, or to condemn her and empathize with Jason. Jason enters the play strutting his stuff, and yes, baring half his body, but by the end of the play, he is a broken man, and Medea gloats from her chariot in the sky. (I was personally a bit disappointed by the chariot which came across more as an airlifted box…but to be fair I probably had overly grandiose notions!)

Having said all that, Medea faced problems that ordinary women faced and still face-such as the huge stake women put down in a marriage. This ancient Greek play should speak to everyone in the audience as it focuses on relations between man and woman, husband and wife, parents and children. Indeed, the whole sticky situation seems to come about via fathers trying to secure the best for their offspring: Creon in obtaining Jason for his daughter, and Jason in marrying royalty to privilege his current children. Euripides declares that besides a man's love for himself, and his country, his children come next. Hence, Medea, with nothing left to lose and nowhere to turn, her passionate love turned to desperate hate, decides to kill her children fathered by Jason. All in all, this is a well-integrated play, even having an impressive and comprehensive website (www.medea.org) to boot, which is definitely worth a visit to fully appreciate the intricacies of this full-bodied, half-clad play, such as the significance of the clothing design.

Ching-Li Tor 31/01/02