Medea review, Richmond Theatre/UK Tour

Medea studies

What you take away from Mike Bartlett's updating of Medea is largely dependent on your gender. On first reading, Euripides' classic tale is a bit over the top for modern times - cruelly abandoned woman, demented with grief, poisons her successor and murders her children rather than share them with her ex - but when you think how many British children have been killed by emotionally destabilised parents, it isn't that unlikely.

Our modern Medea is not a sorceress but a smart and slightly spooky redhead, clearly out of her mind, though not necessarily mad. Filled with rage and a hunger for vengeance on the eve of her ex-husband Jason's second marriage, and driven demented by the endless twittering of her friends, the final straw is the arrival of her landlord, Jason's future father-in-law, with an eviction order. As David Bowie sings Aladdin Sane, Medea puts her hand into a boiling pot to pull out cooked carrots for her mute son, Tom, and we know that Barlett is staying on message.

What really works is the deconstruction of divorce. While there is no right or wrong in terms of outcome, there is right and wrong in the way those outcomes are reached. Anyone who has experienced abandonment will recognise Medea's blisteringly expressed pain, confusion and outrage at Jason's disregard for the needs of his family. They will feel too, for his alienation after Tom's birth (there is only one child in this version). Rachael Stirling is a powerful and moving Medea. Adam Levy's cockily convincing Jason is in every way an emotional lightweight, but this is an approximation, not a replication, of the original tale.

In conclusion: A full house loudly oohed and aahed its way through 90 minutes of high drama. The poisoning doesn't ring true and the ending is too abrupt, but it's a good watch and listen, with a solid cast and a great set.

References
Richmond Theatre, tickets
Mark Fisher review in The Guardian