Medea
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 Medea |
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Running Time: 60 Minutes Venue: Wed, 06/02/2010 - 07:30 Fri, 06/04/2010 - 07:30 Sat, 06/05/2010 - 04:00 Tue, 06/08/2010 - 09:30 Fri, 06/11/2010 - 07:30 |
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"One Intensely Beautiful Show!" -Best Show! (FringeNext), IndyFringe 2009
From paperStrangers Performance Group
Show Description: Euripides' classic drama of a woman betrayed in love, on a quest for vengeance, and her discovery of its price.
Most Fringy Thing: It's creepy... It's exciting... It's "One intensely beautiful show!" And there's nothing more intriguing than a woman who brutally kills her own children... Except for maybe a wedding dress made with 10,000 feathers...
Artist/Company Bio: paperStrangers was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2010. It is our mission to have our audiences truly feel. Our focus is evocation. We utilize the effectual liveness of performance, provide imaginative and provocative presentation, and remain committed to the investigation of our own humanity in order to most effectively engage and involve our audiences. We are a theatre of feeling, an experience, one that resonates deep within each of us.
Hails from: Indianapolis, IN
Previous Fringes: 2009 Indianapolis Fringe Festival (Medea), Going to the 2010 Indianapolis Fringe Festival (Macbeth), 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival (Medea), & 2010 Capital Fringe Festival (Medea).
Reviews
Don't Piss Off Medea
rating systems:
1=Disappointed 2=Enjoyed 3=Recommend 4=Encore
Fringe rating
FRINGY=what you only expect to see at a Fringe festival
FRINGIER=even at a Fringe festival you think- wow, that
was different
FRINGIEST=pushes the boundaries of what you ever see anywhere
MEDEA Randy 3 * Suzana 3 * Klara 4 * Ross 3.5 * Tom 4 *
* FRINGIER *
Again, classical theater at a Fringe Festival and it was solidly
Fringier. Six actors- four in the chorus in white with strange facial
makeup (very effective) and hair tweaked with white feathers, Medea
in a white dress with feathers, and Jason in black. Medea and Jason
have classic theater/film good looks, stature and no visible makeup.
Opening: A wall sized screen showing TV style static with Jason and
Medea silently before it and the music building to near painful volume.
Nothing said, but obviously the couple breaks up and Medea is beyond
upset. Still nothing said. Oh, did I say there are two button eyed white
stuffed figures hanging by rope in front of the screen? These are the
children, destined to die violently at Medea's hand. Foreshaddowing.
I don't usually subject you to this much detail, but I wanted to illustrate
why I found it FRINGIER. Now, why did I like it? The acting, the staging,
the costumes, the chorus (very creepy, but totally effective), the very
tight story telling, the emotion, the effects, and especially the actor
who was Medea. She did more with a look than many actors do with
all they have. Klara voted it her PICK OF THE FRINGE. It is in my top
5 for sure. Unfortunately, last night was the final performance.
TheConveyor Review: Medea
Classic literature is a rich source for theatre and Medea, from paperStrangers Performance Group, is a beautiful adaptation of the ancient play that uses stunning costumes to bring forth the intense story. For More Click Here
Medea - A high energy, intense performance.
Intense, emotive, and sweaty--a wringer of a performance. A clearly understandable version of the Greek classic told from Medea's point of view. The Greek chorus was oddly refreshing. Medea, undoubtedly, is one of the best performances at this year's CincyFringe.
Enquirer Review: This 'Medea' is hard to love
by Jackie Demaline
Young Indianapolis troupe paper Strangers performance group makes its Cincinnati Fringe debut with a 40-minute "Medea" and what their work looks like to me is college students (or recent grads) feeling their oats.
Read the rest of the review here
CityBeat Review
by Kathy Valin
Critic's Pick
Director Michael Burke of paperStrangers performance group uses a cast of six and two life-sized puppet dolls in this intense, befeathered, modern-flavored restaging of Medea, the 2,400-year-old Greek drama by Euripides in which a vengeful woman horribly murders her own children. As the title character, protagonist Melissa Fenton is of course very tightly wound. This beautiful and unspeakably resourceful woman, clad in an immaculate white wedding gown covered in white feathers, has been unforgivably wounded by her husband Jason, he of Golden Fleece fame.
Read the rest of the review here
CityBeat Preview
Full article here
by Kathy Valin
Director Michael Burke was drawn to the Greek dramatist Euripides’ 431 B.C. examination of passion, love and vengeance by the dichotomy it embodies: We feel Medea’s justified rage at Jason, but to get revenge by the horrific killing of their children?
To augment this dramatically faithful production presented in an approachable translation, Burke has mixed real actors with life-sized white rag dolls, that stand in for the children, suggesting they have become mere pawns in a power game between the former lovers. Don’t expect to sink your teeth into this production — it might sink its teeth into you.