[NEohioPAL] Review of "Medea" by Mamai Theatre Company (revised/corrected)

[Bob Abelman]

Mamaí Theatre Company takes a wild stab at 'Medea'

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 6/21/13

 

The first production by a new professional theater company speaks volumes about its vision, judgment, and threshold for calculated risk.  So the choice of Irish poet and novelist Brendan Kennelly's modernized "Medea" by the Mamaí Theatre Company is an intriguing one.   And its selection of actress Tracee Patterson in the title role is nothing short of brilliant.

Mamaí, which is currently sharing space with Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights, is founded on the mission of creating relevant classical theater that showcases the stories and the storytelling of women.

 

"Medea," directed by company co-founder Bernadette Clemens, certainly fits the bill.  

 

Written by Euripides around 431 BC, this play is the standard-bearer of tragedies that explore the hellacious fury of a woman scorned.  Traded in for a younger model by her husband Jason, Medea flies into fits of rage and engages in a bloody, vengeful rampage.  Most notably, she stabs to death her own children. 

 

As with most classic works, many playwrights have re-envisioned this story and have done so by either embracing, embellishing, or ignoring its classicism.  Kennelly's translation employs modern-day references and paints Medea as a metaphor rather than just one really scary woman.  As such, he accentuates the play's political relevance regarding the injustices faced by women in a patriarchal society.  

 

Although a more contemporary retelling, Kennelly keeps the play grounded in antiquity.  There is still the preponderance of lengthy monologues that unfold in ancient Greek cadence.  There's still the tradition of having all the action take place off-stage while it is described, at length, on stage.  And it is still a Greek Chorus that does most of the describing.

 

While the playwright appears to be striving for realism, Mamai's production choices venture into the surreal and take quite a few liberties by moving the play into a modern-day context. Though interesting, these choices don't always jive with the material.  

 

For example, Trad A Burns' scenic design consists only of a white picket fence and a plot of shinny green Astroturf.  Such blatant oversimplification adds a bizarre, dreamlike quality to the work that makes this epic play seem small and too confined.   

 

Also bizarre is the division of the chorus into individual observers -- an alcoholic neighbor (Jean Cummins), a tabloid news correspondent (Natalie Green), a Starbucks barista (Sarah Doody), and several attorneys (Anne McEvoy and Stuart Hoffman) - who provide their respective insights about Medea's mindset and tragic plight.  

 

Rather than fading into the background to observe Medea's antics, these players remain oddly active and their stage business - which includes the news reporter constantly primping and posturing - seems disconnected from what should be the focus of our attention.    

 

If all this is created to serve as a counterpoint to Tracee Patterson's portrayal of Medea, it works.  There is nothing surreal, small, or unfocused about this character.  

 

Registering at the extreme end of the sliding scale of sanity, as well as the Richter Scale of intensity, Patterson's Medea is a voracious, maniacal man-eater.  She is so terrifying that even her traumatized crop of blond hair is looking to escape.  Despite her full-body rage, there is an underlying intelligence, deliberation and wit that comes through, which makes her even more terrifying.  This Medea's mood swings create vertigo.

 

Holding his own against Medea's wrath is Jason Kaufman as her husband.  Typically played as an inaccessible ass or shameless heel, this Jason seems a reasonable sort who admits his digressions though he by no means apologies for them.  

 

When Medea drags onto the stage her two slaughtered daughters - two of Mamai's most interesting and daring choices are the physical appearance of the dead children (Grace Hoy and Julia Ashkettle) and casting the children as daughters rather than sons - Kaufman's shock is all-encompassing and quite powerful.    

 

All the players in this production - including Mary Jane Nottage as Nurse, Robert Hawkes as Creon, Joseph Milan as Aegeus, and Annie Schiferl as Teacher - do a nice job of lending support to the storytelling in general and Medea's madness in particular.  

 

For a first production by a new theater company, this one is impressive.  If "Medea" is an example of the femme-forward thinking to come, then Mamai will be a welcome addition to the local theater community.  Though not all of its creative risks pay off in this production, risk-taking is a fine hook on which to hang one's hat. 

 

"Medea" continues through August 4 at 2843 Washington Blvd., Cleveland Hts.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $20, visit www.mamaitheatreco.org/home/buyticketssubscribe.
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