Medea

(I know that usually the first thing that people who start a blog do is to introduce themselves, but I guess I can do it later.)

Hello, Thespians! Today I saw this production of Medea, the famous tragedy written by Euripides in this new version directed by Ben Power, starring the amazing Helen McCrory as Medea and the fantastic Danny Sapani as Jason. 

The play follows the original plot except for the fact that everything happens nowadays... more or less? The characters don't wear tunics and there aren't any statues nor ancient Greek temples, still the gods and the ancient beliefs remain throughout the play, and even the cities are the same Greek cities as the original tragedy; I didn't really understand when the play is supposed to take place though. At the beginning it seemed to me that they were in the 40s-50s or something, still there's one scene when they take a photo with an iPhone I think? I don't know, I'll probably look it up on Google.

Anyway, the actors: WOW. That's the only thing I can think about. Everyone was absolutely fantastic, really. For example I loved the strange dance that the Greek chorus did, it reminded me a lot of something ancient and sacred and somehow obscure, it really captured me. 

At the beginning Danny didn't convince me as Jason, but as the play continued I had to change my idea: pure talent! I was amazed, he's such a great actor and he needs recognition for this. I gotta say it, he really convinced me.

My hands tremble as I write this because I'm still shaken by her perfomance: HELEN MCCRORY. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I witnessed one of the best acting perfomances I've ever seen in my life. That is how you act on stage, that is a passionate actress, that is an example to follow. You could see, you could feel that Helen captured the essence of the character, every little part of her body was completely on character, every muscle, every nerve, every drop of sweat. She was truly breathtaking. Medea is one of the most complex characters in the History of theatre, still she managed to play her in the best way I could ever imagine, making the audience feel all her agony and despair. 

I was truly touched by this production of Medea, everyone did a wonderful job and honored the original tragedy, good job!