Download Medea Education Pack

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3.
Euripides and Competitions
5.
The Story of Medea
6.
Medea Through the Ages
8.
Exercises
The Gate Theatre has been situated in London’s Notting Hill since
1979. It produces challenging and inspirational theatre in an intimate
75-seat venue. More information at www.gatetheatre.co.uk
Belvoir is an Australian theatre company that was founded in 1984.
They stage dynamic and innovative theatre and tour nationally and
internationally. More information at www.belvoir.com.au
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Euripides was a Greek playwright who lived around 400BC. He frequently
had his plays entered into ‘competitions’ (contests for poets and playwrights
that were held by city-states) and the architectural design of the
Amphitheatre was developed to house them.
Ampitheatre
c. Alamy
The competitions were a key part of the Dionysia - a religious festival that
took place in Athens and celebrated the arts. As well as theatre competitions,
there were also competitions for music and poetry. There were two main
types of plays, Comedies and Tragedies. There were also Satyr plays which
were written with the intent of reminding the audience not to take the whole
thing too seriously! Only men were allowed to perform, including in female
roles. Women were also not allowed to attend the competitions.
Ancient Greek theatre reached its height in Athens, where plays offered an
opportunity to examine important social and religious issues and often to
express open criticism of politics and politicians. One hundred citizens
judged the Athenian competitions; ten from each tribe, with prizes awarded
for first, second and third place. An urn from each of the 10 tribes contained
the names of citizens eligible to serve as judges; to prevent bribery, one
name was drawn from each urn at the start of the festival. Each of the 10
judges wrote down three names on a tablet in the order of his selection, and
the 10 tablets were placed in a container.
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On the last day of the festival, 5 of the tablets were randomly chosen, and
these determined the winner. Great prestige was attached to a first prize
victory: there is documentation of large monuments being erected in honour
of winning playwrights, and of actors celebrating their victory at ‘cast parties’.
Medea came third in the competition it was entered in. This was out of only
three playwrights who entered. It was beaten by Sophocles and the lesserknown Euphorion (son of Oresteia author Aeschylus). In his lifetime,
Euripides entered over 90 of his plays into competitions, but he only won it
five times. His final win was with The Bacchae, but it was presented after his
death.
Euripides could be described as the ‘Angry Young Man’ of the ancient Greek
playwrights. His work was not always well received and it often offended the
sensibilities of his audiences and the Athenian authorities.
Euripides had an affinity with the philosophies of Socrates, and much of his
works suggested a sense of doubt surrounding the idea of the Gods (note
the way in which Medea is essentially let off the hook in comparison to the
comeuppances of killers on other Greek tragedies). He was widely rumoured
to be an atheist- making him an unusual figure that posed a threat to the
status quo. With this in mind it is not such a surprise that he came third out
of three playwrights and only won first prize five times out of some ninety-two
attempts.
In terms of Euripides’ style as a playwright, he was a very different voice to
his peers and those who had preceded him. His language was comparatively
naturalistic, and his characters felt more nuanced and well-rounded then the
rigid archetypes found in the work of many of his peers. In Medea, Euripides
creates a female character with strength, agency and flaws.
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The original story of Medea comes from Greek mythology. There have been
several interpretations and adaptations over the centuries but Euripides’
version is, arguably, the most famous. It goes like this:
Medea is the wife of Jason (who is the leader of the famous Argonauts - a
group of men who went on several expeditions including finding the Golden
Fleece). Together, they have two children. Jason falls in love with a woman
called Glauce, who happens to be the King of Corinth’s daughter. Jason
leaves Medea and, as an ultimate act of revenge, Medea kills their children.
In Euripides’ version of the story, you witness everything from the
perspective of Medea. The children are usually always offstage. However,
what makes our version of Medea special is that you get to watch the story
unfold from the perspective of the children who are called Leon and Jasper.
When you come to our theatre, you will see that you are stepping into the
world of the children. The set is designed as their bedroom and the children
hang out there while their parents are arguing elsewhere in the house.
Greek plays also have a Greek chorus. This was a group of performers who
would comment on what was going on in the play. Depending on the director,
the chorus may speak in unison, may dance or may sing their lines. Their
role was to provide necessary information in order to help the audience
understand the play. In our version of Medea, there isn’t a chorus.
Medea in paintings throughout history:
(Medea, Anthony Frederick
Augustus Sandys, 1866-68.)
(Medea, Evelyn De
Morgan, 1889.)
(Medea, Eugene Ferdinand
Victor Delacroix, 1862.)
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Despite the cold reception Medea got on its original performance, the story
has now become one of the most retold in the world. The Gate’s production
takes an interesting look at the original tale by moving the point of view to
two of the lesser-examined characters (the children), and many others have
found new ways to tell the story. Below is a selection of important 20 th/21st
Century productions:
1950: Ben Bagley's Shoestring Revue performed a musical parody offBroadway which was later issued on an LP and a CD, and was revived in
1995. The same plot points take place, but Medea in Disneyland is a
parody, in that it takes place in a Walt Disney animated cartoon.
1990: The play Pecong, by Steve Carter, is a retelling of Medea set on a
fictional Caribbean island around the turn of the 20th century.
1993: Dame Diana Rigg played Medea in a hugely popular production at the
Wyndam’s Theatre in London’s West End. It was directed by Jonathan Kent.
1993: A dance-theatre retelling of the Medea myth was produced by Edafos
Dance Theatre, directed by avant-garde stage director and choreographer
Dimitris Papaioannou.
1994: John Fisher wrote a camp musical version of Medea entitled Medea
the Musical that re-interpreted the play in light of gay culture. The production
was first staged in Berkeley, California.
1998: Irish playwright Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats is a modern
re-telling of Euripides' Medea. She wrote it when she was 17.
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1999: Neil Labute wrote Medea Redux, a modern retelling, first performed
in 1999 starring Calista Flockhart as part of his one act trilogy entitled
Bash: Latter-Day Plays. In this version, the main character is seduced by
her middle school teacher. He abandons her, and she kills their child out
of revenge.
2005: Legendary director Peter Stein directed Medea in Epidaurus.
2008: Theatre Arcadia, under the direction of Katerina Paliou,
staged Medea at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (University of Alexandria,
Egypt). The production was noted (by Nehad Selaiha of the weekly AlAhram) not only for its unexpected change of plot at the very end but also
for its chorus of one hundred who alternated their speech between Arabic
and English. The translation used was that of George Theodoridis.
2014: Former co-Artistic Director of the Gate, Carrie Cracknell directed a
production of Medea at the National Theatre staring Helen McCrory in
2014. The production was broadcast to cinemas worldwide.
2014: Theatre Lab's production, by Greek director Anastasia Revi,
opened at The Riverside Studios, London.
2015: The Almeida Theatre opens a production of Medea directed by
Artistic Director Rupert Goold and starring actor Kate Fleetwood.
Medea has also been adapted for television and film. In 1969 Pier Paolo
Pasolini adapted in into a film starring opera singer Maria Callas. Large
Von Trier has made a television series in 1988. Even writers of The Bill
have drawn on the plot of Medea for inspiration on particular episodes.
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Discussion points

Do you think Medea is in the right frame of mind? If not, does this excuse her actions?

Who is to blame for the tragedy that befalls the two boys?

What do you think we can learn about the story of Medea from this
particular production?
Activities

Write the dialogue of Medea and Jason’s last conversation.

Come up with your own re-imagining of the story? Are there other
characters whose point of view you could tell the story from?
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