|
Review
by Jacob Coakley for Berkeley
Daily Planet
'Medea'
haunts UC Theatre excitingly
By Jacob Coakley, Special to the
Daily Planet (05-03-02)
It’s good to see the UC Theatre
back on its feet. Thanks to the
Shotgun Players’ production
of "Medea," the historic
theater on University Avenue is
once again home to audiences. Shotgun
pulled off a coup renovating the
space and adapting it to their needs,
and also they’ve renovated
"Medea" – a classical
play which, tragically, always seems
timely.
From the moment you walk up to the
theater you know this will be no
straight-laced revenge tale. Perhaps
emboldened by Impact Theatre’s
successful re-working of "The
Bacchae," Patrick Dooley’s
Shotgun Players have hired Mr. Russ
Blackwood to give this piece an
ironic bite. The coming attractions
windows of the theater sport satiric
society newspaper columns filling
us in on Jason and Medea’s
exploits and his abandonment of
her. And as you walk in the theatre
itself Mellie Katakalos’ set,
small in the cavernous space –
which is a good thing – is
effectively painted to look like
the entrance to a haunted house.
With ominous music from the antique
reed organ – played by the
composer Don Seaver the night I
saw the show – and Medea’s
off-stage wailing, the play begins.
Suzanne Voss’s Nurse has
the unlucky task of exposition,
but her desperation for Medea and
her desire of peace for Medea is
always present, which lends urgency
to her tale and her character through
out the show. The chorus (Kenya
Briggs, Bekka Fink, and Nina Auslander)
enter next, bedecked in flowers
and fruit and singing in three-part
harmony. They, as happy Hellenes,
only wish to help Medea. They try
to prove this throughout the show
with songs that are meant to help
her, but invariably insult her instead.
But it is Creon, played by Louis
Landman who sets the day in motion
when he announces to Medea, played
by Beth Donohue, that she is to
be banished from Corinth to make
life easier for Creon’s daughter
and her new husband, Jason, Medea’s
ex.
Medea doesn’t take this news
well.
When Jason comes onstage to plead
with Medea – he wishes they
could still be friends – the
play hits its comedic peak. Jason
Frazier plays Jason the Argonaut
as a charismatic entitle buffoon
who can do whatever he wishes because
he is blessed by the gods. His arrogance
coupled with his utter ignorance
into the nature of a foreign culture
as represented by Medea and his
subsequent abuse of her eventually
brings his ruin. It is to Jason
Frazier’s credit that he conveys
all this humorously.
The Nurse brings Ageus, ruler of
Athens to see Medea in hopes that
he will grant Medea sanctuary. When
Ageus arrives on-stage he is comically
portrayed by Michael Carreiro as
an impotent fool. In a vaudevillian
give and take sequence Medea convinces
Ageus to offer her sanctuary. Ageus
agrees. With protection granted
Medea quickly spirals downward on
her course and the opportunities
comedy grow fewer as the violence
nears.
As the play approaches its climax
Heather Basarab’s lights become
even starker, creating huge shadows
and lines of black and white on
the theatre’s ceiling and walls
and an impending sense of doom becomes
palpable.
In the end, it’s hard not to
wonder whose tragedy this is. Medea
has exacted her revenge and seems
calmer and more pleased than ever.
It is Jason who is truly the broken
one. He has truly lost everything:
his power, his home and his children;
all through an overdeveloped sense
of entitlement and his inability
to understand a foreign personage.
In these times, it’s hard not
to draw parallels.
"Medea" plays Thursdays
through Sunday now through June
1 at the UC Theatre, 2036 University
Ave. Call 704-8210 for reservations
or visit www.shotgunplayers.org.
-------------------------
Original article on the web at
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?storyID=11738
|
