Medea: Greek tragedy or just plain tragedy?

The voice of the lead and title character is never heard – and the audience might not ever even notice or care.

That shows how effectively American Sign Language is woven into VCU’s interpretation of Euripides’ Greek tragedy “Medea.”

The use of ASL by Medea is the strongest aspect of the play. It amplifies the idea that Medea is different and misunderstood. Medea is played by accomplished deaf actress and second-year theater graduate student Mary Vreeland.

“As the isolated and foreign woman at the heart of this play, what efforts do the people of the dominant society (the Greeks) make to communicate with Medea?” asks guest director Heather Davies. The ASL gives us a strong visual way to explore the extent of people’s skills and desire, or lack there of, to communicate with and understand ‘the other.'”

Medea is immortal, the granddaughter of the sun. She betrayed her father to run off with her husband Jason. She is a sorceress and a foreigner in her new home of Corinth.

Jason now betrays her by kicking her out of their marriage bed. He plans to marry Corinthian King Kreon’s daughter. Medea is filled with rage and plots the demise of the King and Princess.

Nurse, played by Rebekah Bayles, is the interpreter for Medea. For all purposes she is the only voice of Medea the audience knows. This causes the text to lose some of its emotional qualities.

The Nurse’s delivery of Medea’s words is very flat and impersonal at times. The spontaneous element of interpretation is lost through extensive rehearsal and memorization.

An ever-changing small group of actors-turned-musicians accent the play with subtle mood music. They use a gong, cymbals, drums, chimes, a didgeridoo and other percussion to mimic and add to the intensity of the scenes.

The use of an eight-woman chorus is not always effective. The chorus speaks and sings all as one. This doesn’t allow for individual character development, though it does make what they say very powerful.

The hyper-melodramatic nature of Greek tragedies is apparent, but that is the only level. No other tones are visited, so that the audience might appreciate each one more by the contrast they offer.

“Overall I was disappointed by the flatness of the directing, but the actors being musicians and on-stage performers was innovative and challenging aspect,” said VCU theater alumni C. Ian Campbell.

The design is all over the board. The set is a classic Greek temple-like white structure. The stage is transformed into a sunny stone-filled courtyard. It is very natural looking, but the noise of the stones under the cast’s feet distracts from the dialogue.

The costume designs pull from Greek, militaristic and contemporary influences. The chorus women wear modern skirts and dresses in earth tones, blues and greens, while Medea’s green dress with a golden breastplate evoke images of Xena.

The men wear simple Greek-meets-military-style blue uniforms and huge black boots. They later bring out plastic helmets and automatic guns. It’s an unsuccessful attempt to marry disparate styles.

The lighting is the brightest it’s ever been in this theater. The lighting finally changes from the natural sun look to dark eerie red at the end of the play, when Medea goes mad and kills her children.

Medea’s murder of her two young sons to spite her husband isn’t believable. This is a truly crazy act, not unlike cutting off your nose to spite your face. The audience knows the play recognizes the insanity, since the chorus is so horrified by the idea.

Medea seems much too calm and cool to commit such a heartless and bizarre act. Is she really so vengeful and full of hate that she would see her children slain to hurt her husband? The play says she is, but the actors don’t display such intensity.