Medea

by Euripides in a new version by Rachel Cusk

seen at the Almeida Theatre on 19 October 2015

This is the third and final production in the Almeida GreeK season (following 'Oresteia' reviewed in June 2015 and 'Bakkhai' reviewed in August 2015). It is directed by Rupert Goold and designed by Ian MacNeil, and features Kate Fleetwood as Medea, Justin Salinger as Jason, Amanda Boxer as the Nurse, Michele Austin as the Cleaner, Andy de la Tour as Creon and a Tutor, and Richard Cant as Aegeus, with a chorus of five women, and two young boys, the sons of Medea and Jason.

The play is set in an opulent house - we see two levels but there are also stairs going down out of sight - in which Medea, a freelance writer, is living with her sons not long after (it seems) Jason has left her for a younger woman. The house and its contents, of course, become part of the battleground of the now alienated couple; 'equal shares' are a pious fraud in such a situation. 

Bakkhai

by Euripides in a new version by Anne Carson

seen at the Almeida Theatre on 10 August 2015

This is the second production in the Almeida Greeks season (following 'Oresteia', reviewed in June 2015). It is directed by James Macdonald and designed by Antony McDonald, and features Ben Whishaw, Bertie Carvel and Kevin Harvey with a chorus of ten women (the Bakkhai of the title). Music for the chorus is composed by Orlando Gough.

Unlike 'Oresteia', which was more of an interpretation than a translation, Anne Carson's version of this play follows the original more closely (apart from a few sly anachronisms to emphasise the disorienting effect of Euripides' black humour). The production too reflects a good deal of what is known about the original style of performance. The three actors play all the speaking roles, while the choric odes are sung, and even when the chorus speaks it is usually in unison and the voices often become songlike. The obvious points of departure from 'original practice' (so far as it is known) are that the chorus is performed by women rather than adolescent boys, and that there are no masks. The visual presentation of the speaking characters is, however, prominently stylised.