Medea
(http://catedraluisalbertoalvarez.blogspot.com/2008/02/medea-de-pasolini.html)
Practice, practice, practice. A person who wants to do well in nearly any sort of an activity is bound to hear this piece of advice; performers are no exception. However, there seems to be more to reaching success than just constant repetition. In the reading of Medea, a part of the Joel Segall Great Works Reading Series, the cast demonstrated that perhaps true talent and a bit of creativity play an even larger role in putting together a dramatic, yet convincing show.
After speaking just a few lines, Kathleen Turco-Lyon, the Nurse, impressed the audience with the soothing wave of her classical voice. Despite her plain black attire, Turco-Lyon’s melodic intonation created an effortless transition from the 21st century in New York City into ancient Greece. While she did not spend a great deal of time speaking, the consistent display of emotion seen in her facial expressions made her character an important asset to the performance. Through her painfully real looks of horror and distress, the grave seriousness of Medea’s situation easily became believable.
Denise Ann Pelletier, who played Medea also left the crowd with a lasting first impression. Though she was offstage when her character was introduced, her sorrowful cry was able to fill the theater with Medea’s bitter rage and sour despair. The shaking intensity of her character’s emotions was carried out through the rest of the reading. At the same time, however, she managed to do so in a very controlled manner, avoiding the melodrama that results from an overdone attempt at a challenging role.
Despite the actresses’ passion and moving effect on the audience, Jason, played by Bryn Magnus appeared completely detached from the performance. With the rough voice of a man who could very well be your next-door neighbor, it was clear that he had little experience with performing Greek plays. There were also one or two instances in which he fought with a line until it finally stumbled out of his mouth. Evidently, he was unable to connect with his character, just as the audience was unable to connect with him.
Though Magnus’s performance was not quite up to par with the others, there were other valuable aspects of the reading that outweighed this weakness. Those who worked on this performance were resourceful and were able to effectively incorporate the highlights of the original play into this condensed version. Although the use of actual children in the reading would have heightened the tension of Medea’s plot for revenge, the use of two masks in place of them was clever and surprisingly quite fitting. Since the actors fully embraced the shiny white masks as the children, it was not difficult as an audience member, to do the same.
Moreover, the decision to use the entire theater as the actors’ stage helped to sweep the spectators into the messy lives of the miserable characters. In the beginning of the play, the chorus stood up from among the audience members, and this tiny surprise certainly caught their attention. At times, actors also entered and exited scenes through the sides of the theater. Though it was not always convenient to turn around and see who was speaking or coming in, overall, this technique kept the audience attentive and interested during each transition from scene to scene.
While some might imagine the reading of a play, rehearsed for a mere 15 hours, to be raw and rather unpolished, this performance certainly went beyond such expectations. Though the reading was far from flawless, the majority of the actors’ skills allowed Medea’s tragic story to smoothly unfold. Innovatively performed, this reading of Medea was an entertaining storm of anger, frustration and merciless revenge.
