Medea live theatre review

Medea - Live theatre review

I saw Medea on Friday 15th November at the Unicorn theatre in London. The theatre itself was a traverse seating arrangement, with the action going on in front of the audience and only in front. It was a stunning performance that featured a vast range of dramatic features that mellowed together in a visually stunning and gripping performance. This even rattled down to the equipment they used with safety harness’s and ropes being used as a dramatic medium of the struggle for power throughout Medea’s life. 

The aerial acrobatic theme of this Medea was breathtaking and beautiful leading the audience into a stunned silence of awe and entrancing them deeper into the meanings behind it. They used the acrobatic equipment as an advantage rather than a hindrance by making it prominent, as if it was a built in feature. The pushing, pulling, swooping and fighting was enigmatically enhanced by the equipment and even brought a deeper meaning to aspects of the play. This could be shown by the beginning scene: all of the actors are surrounding Medea at the four corners of a square upstage. They are each connected to Medea via a rope linked on to their safety belt and are in turn forcefully pulling her between each other. It shows the oppression forced upon Medea by the people surrounding her, showing how they shape the madness that she is and that in actual fact she is only in such a place from all of the torment she gets from her peers. This was also shown by the battle between her and Kreon. The actors are connected via a rope and a pulley system with Kreon being positioned on a ladder on the far right upstage and Medea hanging off the other end in the middle upstage. Medea is running up and down an extremely large wall (centre upstage) showing how she is trying to be free of the chains wrapped around her by Kreon, or in this case the rope. This imagery is enhanced by the fact that Kreon’s weight is physically pulling her back each time, he’s being a direct influence on her movement, changing it from free and flowing in a maniacal sort of manner to one of pain and short bursts of energy broken up by interludes of resting from the effort. The overall effect of this was to physically show the inner mental struggle of Medea. She was constantly fighting a battle, trying to get what she wanted but was stopped at every corner by a superior. This could portray a message towards the everyday life of every other human being alive. We live our lives trying to get what we want yet are constantly struggling against the boundaries set by our superiors. 

Another dramatic effect used within Medea was the lighting and sound. Both of these dramatic mediums played a heavy influence on the feelings and emotions of the play both for the audience and intensity of the scenes especially with building tension. An example of the sound affecting the tension within the audience would be the scene when Medea is finally losing her mind. She is limply swing around the stage by a rope and pulley attached to the centre of the above stage rigging and in the background are whisperings and echoes of the lines Medea is chanting. It gave the piece an eerie melodic feel as if Medea was singing an ancient incantation. It made the audience feel on edge as if they were witnessing the dismantling of a human mind right in front of their eyes. On top of this, piercing blue lights flickered on Medea when she started shrieking and shouting. This came as a shock to the audience and brought a sense of uneasy dread upon the masses, this then mingled with a bit of fear after Medea suddenly freezes in the centre of the stage under a heavy red haze of lighting. The effect created by these sudden changes was one of varying emotions being felt by the audience. It fed fear into the audiences mind and layered the image of Medea’s mind slowly and brutally unravelling into their own minds. It acted as a strong message that finally all of these life influences had won. Medea was finally broken and the struggle had now begun for them. This was also shown by the singing throughout the piece. The harmonic and ancient throaty singing styles used by the females within the cast gave a sign of fragility to the strong, deep belly voice used by the man playing Kreon. It added a strong intensity to the emotions running through each scene. Usually the voices were used in a gradual crescendo until they reacher the point of forte. I felt this use of ancient harmonising was representative of the exorcism of some spirit or evil creature, almost as if they were forcing Medea out. The message that I got from this use of lighting and sound was one of despair, it tried to get people to be able to visualise the effects of a build up of traumata or harassing effects upon a human mind. It snaps even the strongest of minds after a frantic struggle for control. 

In conclusion, I feel that the vast array of dramatic mediums used within Medea aided this work beautifully. Mixed with the serenity and intensity of the aerial theatre it collaborated to provide a gut wrenching, visually and mentally stunning play. One that stuck in the minds of the audience and made them think of the consequences of actions. This production wasn’t afraid of emotions and wanted to show the real barebones of the human mind. They also weren’t afraid of featuring odd pieces of equipment such as the safety harnesses or ladders. This helped to add a strong air of originality and worked to stick the play into the audience’s minds leaving them with a lasting effect as well as an immediate thought process.

Vocal expression

Vocal expression is a technique used in Drama heavily by actors. It can be used in many different ways although it is mainly used for expressing a character. It is in 6 main sections; Accent, Tone, Timbre, Pause, Pitch and Pace. All of these have a heavy affect on a character when used. For example, if a character is nervous, their pace will be fast, their pitch will usually be higher, their timbre will be harsher and their tone will be short and angry, their accent will be more free as they will care less and they might have a stutter or have many short pauses for breath after their long sentences. This is opposed to if a character was very relaxed as they'd be slower in their pace, lower in pitch, have a softer timbre, longer pauses when they've finished a sentence, the tone will be more free and easy and the accent will probably be more precise. It allows the character to almost see a background to what kind of person the character is. Are they uptight and fast in their actions, or are they flowing and smooth. It may also help the actor to understand what their character is like as sometimes naturally with the words your pace and pitch increases or decreases.

Interpretation

Interpretation is the way that the actor, playwright or director decides how a certain role should be played. It is their own opinion.


Playwright --------------> Director ---------------> Actor --------------->  Audience
(Ideas)                            (Script)                        (Script,                     (Performance)
                                                                          Character
                                                                          Director)

                                                 Page to the stage

Intro --------> Development ---------> Conflict ---------> Resolution
      (Scene 1)                                    (Scene 2)                                      (Scene 3)


My interpretation on The Kid:
He should be on the edge, about to tip over.
At times he does go over but only at certain trigger words, he also has triggers words that lull him back into being relaxed.
Scared of movement.
Very twitchy.
Finger twitching occasionally in memory of the piano.
Only strong eye contact when off the edge or looking at Ton.
Varying range of pace matching his mental state.
For example, It'll will be faster when he's angrier and slower when he's calming down.

Laban movement analysis

Laban movement analysis is the visualisation and interpretation of human movement, although it derives mainly from dance it can also be used for describing dramatical gestures. For example, movements can be direct or indirect. They can be constantly flowing or have a definitive start and a definitive stop. For example, if you're acting out a tai chi instructor, your movements will generally be slow and calculated, your sentences and voice will be long and drawn out, the vowels in words will be lengthy and you won't be rushed. Whereas if you're acting out an athlete or boxer, you'll be more pumped up, constantly moving and there'll be a definitive start and stop to your movements, you'll probably be quite sharp and direct as well. Your voice will be concise and the sentences you say will be as short as they possibly can be. Any confrontation will be strongly met as well, in way of gesticulation, you'd use movements such as the punch movement or push, directly as well. It would have an affected area that you would be aiming at as such. I believe that using this median of drama allowed me to connect more with how my character would act, would he be rushed and short tempered or temperamental and ready to calm a situation. 

Stanislavski in drama

The main idea behind stanislavski's way of thinking is basically making the actor get into the mind frame of the character they're acting. For example, giving them slight traits, such as a limp or having a headache, real world scenarios that would effect the way they move, talk, and act overall. For example, when we applied this to a scene between Ton and the kid in gotcha, we assigned these different aspects to the characters and then made sure that we were able to show them off to the audience. it added a sense of realism to the piece and allowed us to give our characters a deeper motion in how they acted, understanding that if they had a headache or an argument just before that they'd be uptight and constantly being niggled by these difficulties. In the partnership I was in we also had a pacing circle between the two characters to show a kind of trapped animal mentality. It allowed us to show how riled up and annoyed they were, sick of being trapped and ready to claw at each others throats to try and get out. I think that it did help us to get a deeper meaning from our characters and let us focus on how they'd act in different scenarios. 

Set design, lighting and props

This set design would work well for the broom cupboard in 'Gotcha' as it's reasonably long and enclosed, giving it a smaller and more intimte feel. For example, for when the student and pe teacher are getting up close and personal the audience gets a real feel for the emotions and testosterone flowing through the words. I would also be changing the lighting to match the mood switches so for example, for a smoother and more relaxing feel I would make the lighting yellow and not to harsh, it would also be dispersed using a diffuser. Whereas in the more passionate moment such as angry moments, the lighting eould be concentrated on the involved characters and maybe a harsh red colour to show the intense emotions in the scene.

At times i'd have different sounds such as the creak of floorboards and such for tense and quiet scenes to add effects of tension and play on the audiences mind for how lonely they are in the school. I would also have the sound effects of loud children and bustling people for the effect of how surrounded yet lonely they are. For props I would have the kid in a sruffy old looking school uniform, the pe teacher would be in the typical polo shirt and shorts, whilst the science teacher would simply be in a skirt and blouse and finally the head teacher would be in a suit and tie. I would want the kid to be wearing greyscale clothing to show that he is faded out and forgotten about, simply blending into the background. As the director i would like this to add the effect of being lost and unknown in a crowded school.

Gotcha context

The context of 'Gothca' - Social, historical and political

During the 1970’s, feminism had a massive influence on the politics and general life. It was a major political movement and was starting to become almost a fashion for a lot of the women of that time, this was backed by the uprising of 'Punk', a prolific sound of anti-establishment and a three chord rebellion led by the 'voice of the people'. Comprehensive schools we're a relatively new idea and we're just coming onto the scene although they really weren't that good and we're renowned as almost meat factory's to push through students as quickly as possible without any real tutoring or guidance. When Gotcha was written Callaghan was the prime minister, from what I can see, he wasn't the best. It seemed to be quite a hard going time money wise, with the Pay rise's being cut to under 5% and the 'Winter of discontent' looming on their doorsteps, it was a struggle to live a reasonable life during the late 70's. Overall, the late 70's were a poor time of frustration and anger and general rebellion among the masses, represented through all forms of media, music, art and dramatic theatre.