Analyse the extent to which two of the following __did something__ in a theatrical presentation you have seen recently

Tech 1Tech 2Tech 3Tech 4

Your analysis must include details of the dramatic impact achieved and the audience response.

You must give equal weighting to your two chosen areas. You must give analytical points to gain full marks.

*** anything in colour is the variable that could change***

SET

The stairs in Medea are placed USL. They curve to lead to the weddingwhere we see Jason marry later in the play. They are smooth and rather dirty and quite dull. There is a contrast between the red lining the surface of each step and the dirty white sides. The stairs are highlighted nearer the end of the play when Jason walks down them to confront Medea

Medea spends the entire play in the downstairs area of the set that hints at a decrepit hotel room. SR there is an aged wooden table with metal legs that is littered with Medea’s belongings such as bottles, glasses etc. There is also a metal rusty fold up chair in which Medea often sits to contemplate her circumstance. There is an old, dark wood cupboard US of the table where Medea retrieves various important props such as the poisoned dress.

USC there was a forest with trees and bushes. The trees were large and randomly placed to make this performance space as realistic as possible. The branches also crowded added to the realistic and cold or harsh atmosphere. There were also two swings which hung from the branches at the DS area of the forest. The forest floor was covered in moss and fallen leaves.

USR in Medea’s living quarters was a bathroom. There was no doorand the audience could see directly intothe space. It had mouldy green wall paperwhich was starting to peel. As well as thisthe sink was also old and the mirror is also dirtied with finger prints.

The wedding area of the stage was located on the upper section of the stage (the stage was divided into an upper and lower section joined by stairs.) and had a highly decorated set placed behind windows at DSC. The area was littered with celebratory balloons and had several well decorated and modern tables against the back wall as well as an upright piano. This room had a door at the DSR that opened to a balcony rea in front of the window. This area acted in a similar manner to that of a Skene from traditional Greek theatre but instead of simply being a painted wall there was a space behind the windows in which crucial points in the story were acted out. The area appeared overall upper class and well founded.

The stage left area of the downstairs set is suggestive of a living room area. There was a green couch with wooden arm rests. There was a basic wooden coffee table in front of the couch. On the wall was a bright interior furnishing style lamp. The wallpaper was white and had pieces torn from it hanging off the wall. Additionally the carpet was beigeand cream with a cross pattern and was very dated. In the middle of the wider empty space down stage there was an area where the carpet lifted and a trap door was revealed.

COSTUMEJason’s bride was wearing a wedding dress which reached her knees and it had a sweetheart neckline. Her weddingdress had a short straps and the bottom of her dress had a chiffon material. It had a tight corset material at the top of the dress above the skirt.This created a joyful pretty and delicate characterand suggested happiness and a bright future for Jason and his bride.

The chorus was a visual metaphor for Medea’s mental state. They were composed of around 15 women ranging in age and appearance. In the beginning of the play they enter and speak to Medea. They were dressed in modest traditional house wife attire. Each in knee length skirts they wore floral or gingham atterns.in pale colours. To complete this look they work plain tops with cardigans in cream, blue and pink colours.

Later The chorus were wearing A line cocktail dresses cut at knee length with capped sleeves and cinched waists. They were pink and cream in colour with a floral pattern. These dresses were very feminine and delicate in nature. As the Medea’s mind became clearer in her violent intentions the dresses became dirtier from the skirt up. When Medea had taken her children off stage and the Chorus were performing their stylised dance the dirt had extended onto the bodice and their faces as well as their makeup and hair had become disheveled.

Throughout the entirety of the play The children’s nurse was wearing the same costume. This comprised of slightly worn white trainers tied at the top lace., loose and ‘floaty’ navy blue trousers that stretched no further than her ankle. These were fastened tightly about her waist, almost like traditional sailor trousers. She wore a sleeveless grey button down top which she always had tucked into her trousers and had a pointed collar that she kept fastened together throughout.

Creon wore a black 2 piece suit which consisted of suit trousers and jacket. He had a white shirt and a dark green tie. He never changed and always looked sophisticated which showed his healthy mental state and happiness for his daughter being married.

As Medea became more resolved in her choice to murder her children she changed from wearing Jason’s old and dirty clothes to a very feminine white jumpsuit that was cinched at the waist, cut low in at the chest and made more powerful with the use of shoulder pads. She also tidied her hair and applied naturalistic and feminine makeup. The change in her appearance suggested empowerment and togetherness while the white flowing material suggested purity.

Medea’s boys were sent offstage right to the bathroom to change into their pajamas. They had been wearing navy shorts and grey longs sleeved shirts. They were clean and well-presented showing they had been loved and well cared for. They returned wearing long sleeved and long trouser style brushed cotton printed pajamas. One was in a red striped top and printed blue and red bottoms and the other was in grey/light blue which reflected their youth and innocence.

Jason entered from his wedding where he had been wearing an expensive nicely tailored suit. He called on Medea and went to the off stage left where it was suggested the murder had taken place. As opposed to his well-kept appearance in previous scenes he was now in a dirty white shirt that was unbuttoned at the collar making his vest apparent and his sleeves were rolled up. The suit jacket and tie were gone. His grey suit trousers were crumpled and dirty. Upon his reentrance onto center stage his shirt was stained with his children’s blood and his new wedding ring were apparent.

Medea returns from the off stage left area carrying the corpses of her children whom she has just murdered. She has not changed her costume however it is now covered in the blood of her children. As the murder happens off stage the only suggestion we have of the detail of the action comes from the costume itself. The manner in which the costume has been covered in blood suggests the murders were both intimate and brutal

SOUND

At the beginning of the play, before the action began, one of Medea’s children ran up to the upright piano located in the wedding area of the upper level of the set. He was alone and played an Ostinato, a repeated sequence, in a minor key. This suggested Medea’s repeated thoughts of her tragic plan to kill her children and sets up the tense and uneasy atmosphere of the play.

Goldfrapp used dischords on the accordion, cello, two violins and piano. As the chorus performed their abstract, staccato dance while Medea was offstage seemingly murdering her children, there were loud and sustained clashing notes that created atonal and ugly sounds which were uncomfortable to the ear. This created a cold and masculine atmosphere representing Medea’s harsh and deranged psyche, as she tried to strip Jason of the people he loved.

Sound was used to highlight the tragedy at the end of the play when Medea was on stage with her dead children in sleeping bags. A piece of music was played by piano, cello, two violins and accordion. When Medea, triumphant in the execution of her plan, turned to walk USC the music grew in volume and a unified choral song. This music was eerie and disenchanting.

Throughout the play the chorus sang in a polyphonic texture by all singing at different times. It created a messy, disorderly sound which emphasised the uneasy and uncomfortable atmosphere and suggested the multitude of voices influencing Medea’s mind and actions.

As the play began there was a roar of thunder which was very strong. The fact that the thunder was loud set the mood for the rest of the play. It made the play feel oppressive and ominous. A powerful sound effect like a clap of thunder at the beginning allows the sound designer to introduce more powerful sounds through the rest of the performance

LIGHTING

While the chorus are onstage performing their stilted dance the stage is lit with a general wash of plainbut warm light lacking in any colour. Occasionally profile spotlights would fade up highlighting certain members of the chorus.

There was a trap door DSL located underneath the carpet in the emptier area of the set. When Medea opened the trap door a bright white light shone upwards from within. This cast a shadow on Medea’s face making her seem both powerful and demonic. While this light was shining from the trap door the other areas of the stage were lit with a dim light.

During the murder of the Princess, Medea was on the lower hotel section of the set. Medea was CSunder a dim profile spot light, clutching her face and shoulders with her hands. The forestand chorus were visible but not purposely lit.

The Princess on the higher set of the set, was set behind a gauze. There were 4 drop “bar style” interior lights with wide lamp shades. During the poisoning many profile spotlights were flashed creating a strobe effect.

During the moment the that Medea exited to murder her children a bright light shone from theoff CSL of the woods through to Medea’s houseIlluminating the majority of the set. This created a contrast of white and black. , was imposing and stark In it’s lack of colour.

At the beginning of the play when only the children and the Nurse were present on stage the lights were very dim. The boys were watching tv and the flickering light of the program illuminated their faces. The boys also had a small torch to find props such as crisps and juice boxes. As a first scene this set up an unsettling atmosphere as the boys were participating in normal and endearing childhood behaviour while the dark and dismal surroundings suggested circumstances which juxtaposed the audience expectation of a family home.

PROPS

When Aegeus enters he givesBoth boys a white Nintendo DS. The boys take them on SR and then run SL toThe sofa to unwrap them from a boxexcitedly. They then sit and play together

One of Medea’s children carried a teddy bear which was well kepttan in colour and medium in size. The teddy begins clean but is significant as by the end of the play the bearIs covered in the children’s bloodThe teddy first appears next to the children at the beginning of the playand finishes in Jason’s hands at the end of the play.

A red blue and yellow tricycle was used by one of Medea’s children as he playfully cycled in a circle centre stageWhile this happens he is joined by hisbrother executing the same circuit.

at the beginning of the playboth children were CS with a juice carton which was green and white in appearance and average size.

After Medea killed her children Jason enters SL to CS holding a bloodied white hand towel. We believe this to be the children’s blood and suggests that he tried to save them by stopping their bleeding.

During the play Medea hides the knife she is going to use to kill he children in the small trap door DSR. The knife had a wooden handle on and a sharp 4 inch medium size blade on the other. The handle was brown and scratched.

Medea took a small glass bottle from the trap door DSL. It was filled with a dark fluid and sealed with a cork. The poison was later dabbed over the dress while Medea used gloves to keep herself from suffering it’s effects.

Medea put the poisoned dress in a white gift box as a wedding present for Jason’s new wife. Glauce. The gift was wrapped formally with a patterned top and tied with a white ribbon. It was inconspicuous in that it was the image of what a wedding gift often looks like thus gaining the trust of those for whom it was intended.

A number of cardboard boxes and leather cases which were dully coloured and varied in size from small shoe box to moderately sized suitcase, were thrown onto CS by one of Creon’s servants. This was done in order to force Medea to collect her belongings and begin her travels away from Corinth into exile. They were seen only in this scene though bags and suitcases were seen on stage throughout.

We see Jason converse with Medea DSR beside the ‘kitchen table’ . As Medea congratulates him on his impending marriage two crystal tumbler glasses are collected into which Medea pours alcohol from a glass decanter on the right side of the table. It is clear that Medea is impoverished. These expensive items suggest she lived affluently when she was with Jason. Alcohol continued to be used through out the play either in times of s tress or contemplation or as a social gesture like when Aegeus came to visit.

The Nanny is seen to be distraught holding the children’s possessions when Creon is forcing Medea and her family to leave Corinth. The Nanny is clutching the fluffy tan teddy bear, a small pair of white plimsolls and a selection of the boys’ clothes.

Medea pulls the snow coloured white dress from the trap door DSL. She reaches deep down in the yellow glow into what is suggested as a mystical trap door. Medea pulls out a dress that is a pale chiffon dress suggestive of a wedding dress or even a night gown. She cradles it like a child rocking back and forth, tentatively stroking it. Her facial expression is in contrast with her body language as she smiles with evil intent whilst cradling her dress with maternal love.

We saw the sleeping bags in the first scene of the play where Medea’s boys were laying closely on the floor watching tv. They were blue nylon and utterly average in their design. We see them again in the final scene of the play where Medea brings them onstage containing the bodies of her dead sons .

More Props

THEME

Medea addresses Feminism and in this production explores female empowerment and transfer of power from men to women. This is shown in the final scene when Medea murders her own and Jason’s children. By doing this she takes all of the power that Jason has previously held as a confident powerful man seeking to better his stationand reduces him to a grovelling misery of a man.

A theme in Medea is manipulation, this is shown when Medea allows Jason to get a picture with their children and makes him think she has forgiven him and is happy for him. She then sends a wedding gift as a gesture of good will to his new wife using their children. Through these actions she suggests she is happy while simultaneously manipulating the situation to suit her intended disastrous outcome

We see the theme of exile in Medea as she is exiled from her home and the society to which she once belonged. She is separated from the other women who, in the form of the Chorus, comment and whisper about her behaviour. She has also been exiled from Jason through his remarriage to Glauce. She has a violent past and it could even be argued she has been exiled in the sense that she is a danger to herself and other people and is therefore alone.

In Medea the theme of greatness and pride are explored. Medea shows pride when she refuses to leave Corinth as requested by Creon. Pride is shown by Creon when he is trying to protect the reputation of his city by banishing Medea and not associating his kingdom with her. Jason shows pride when he marries into the royal family to try and improve his station.

We see the theme of sanity throughout the play. At the start of the play Medea is grief stricken and it is clear in thought and action that her sanity has been affected by Jason’s leaving her. However as the play develops Medea seems to regain sanity and she is able to think clearly and plan horrific events without an excuse of insanity. This is highlighted on stage explicitly when Medea chooses to kill her children in full control of her faculties. Jason, her husband, however, is grief stricken and opposed to his calculated behaviour in the beginning of the play, can now be seen portraying non sane behaviour. It is however, questionable that Medea was full sanity even though this intentions was not necessary

The theme of revenge is explored throughout Medea.

MAKEUP & HAIR

Medea ragged hairto composed natural look

Blood … so much blood

Chorus messy hair dirty faces

ACTINGMedea pulls the snow coloured white dress from the trap door DSL. She reaches deep down in the yellow glow into what is suggested as a mystical trap door. Medea pulls out a dress that is a pale chiffon dress suggestive of a wedding dress or even a night gown. She cradles it like a child rocking back and forth, tentatively stroking it. Her facial expression is in contrast with her body language as she smiles with evil intent whilst cradling her dress with maternal love.

DIRECTING

interview in The Guardian cracknell and guerin video of 1st time working together Guardian review on Medea and directing

MEDEA should be a sorceress or a goddess but is presented human

in Danny Sapani's performance, however, he is less an obvious ogre than a politician who uses sophistry to justify his abandonment of Medea.

we no longer see Medea borne away in a chariot provided by the sun god but making an exit that is profoundly pitiable and perfectly in tune with the insane contradictions of her character

Cracknell has long had an interest in bringing dance into her theatre productions, precisely because it's not so pointy. "Dance is interesting because it makes you very active as an audience member. You're being asked to make sense of it, to find meaning in it. It's not literal, it's not tied down to narrative."

I do think we live in a culture of liking to know where we're being led," she says. "I would much rather be drawn into a work, and asked lots of difficult questions, than be taken on a well-worn story where I know what the outcome will be." She pauses then adds: "We still make enormous divisions between dance and theatre, and actually all acting is movement. All acting is breath."

GENRE

Skene –the building directly in the back of the stage and was usually decorated as a palace, temple or other building wedding

Catharsis an emotional purging from the audience. We fee pity and fear at first only to feel relief and exhilaration at the end that life isn’t so bad

chorus

Hubris- taking action to shame another person (illegal in Athens)

Fate- everything predetermined

Downfall of a good person through a fatal error or misjudgement producing suffering from the protagonist and arousing pity in the audience

Main character had to be good but not too good or the audience would applaud their downfall

Main hero had to be in some way responsible for their own doom no one was innocently a victim of tragedy

AnagorisisThe moment of insight or understanding of the tragic hero when they realise the web of fate in which they are entangled.

Hamartia The fatal error or simple mistake on the part of the protagonist that eventually leads to the final catastrophe

NemesisThe inevitable payback or cosmic punishment for acts of hubris

Orchestra: the lower area where the chorus danced sang and interacted with the actors. Literally meant ‘dancing space’

Parodos: (literally passage ways) are paths by which the chorus and some actors like those relaying messages made their entrances and exits.

Tragic actions take place off stage

COMPANY

Ben Power

I've always been more interested in retelling stories, or trying to find shape for existing material, than I have in making plays from scratch." Ben Power

Ben Power on Site Specific Theatre

ben power in interview

medea overall

trailer HM

director Carrie Cracknell

Helen McR in Interview

random girl review

Some you tube links

Goldfrapp and actors in behind

not so impressed blog

Paul Taylor, Independent: The heroine's formidability and vulnerability are brilliantly entwined in McCrory's performance. Pacing frustratedly round these grotty quarters and trading in scathing, end-of-the-tether ironies, she is the embodiment of how if you leave a person with only their wits to live on, those wits are likely to warp. She runs rings of cool calculation round the male characters but there are stunning moments where her entire system seems to collapse under the pressure of maternal instinct - such as the superb point when she realises, with claustrophobic panic, that by using her sons as pawns in her vengeance against the bride, she has trapped herself into now having to kill them in order to protect them from a worse death at the hands of her foes.

Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard: Its textures are a mix of ancient and modern. Though it reverberates with a sense of Greek ritual, there's an acute feeling of up-to-dateness. This Medea at first looks like she's just emerged from a yoga class in Primrose Hill, before surprising us by smoking like a slightly gauche student and later dressing in floaty white trousers.There's the same quality of wispy elegance in some of the music, by Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp. But as the plot darkens, the score pulses with malevolent intent and builds to snarling intensity.

medium impressed review impressed review

Euripedes' Medea opens in a state of conflict. Jason has abandoned his wife, Medea, along with their two children. He hopes to advance his station by remarrying with Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, the Greek city where the play is set. All the events of play proceed out of this initial dilemma, and the involved parties become its central characters.

Outside the royal palace, a nurse laments the events that have lead to the present crisis. After a long series of trials and adventures, which ultimately forced Jason and Medea to seek exile in Corinth, the pair had settled down and established their family, achieving a degree of fame and respectability. Jason's recent abandonment of that family has crushed Medea emotionally, to the degree that she curses her own existence, as well as that of her two children.

Fearing a possible plot of revenge, Creon banishes Medea and her children from the city. After pleading for mercy, Medea is granted one day before she must leave, during which she plans to complete her quest for "justice"--at this stage in her thinking, the murder of Creon, Glauce, and Jason. Jason accuses Medea of overreacting. By voicing her grievances so publicly, she has endangered her life and that of their children. He claims that his decision to remarry was in everyone's best interest. Medea finds him spineless, and she refuses to accept his token offers of help.

Appearing by chance in Corinth, Aegeus, King of Athens, offers Medea sanctuary in his home city in exchange for her knowledge of certain drugs that can cure his sterility. Now guaranteed an eventual haven in Athens, Medea has cleared all obstacles to completing her revenge, a plan which grows to include the murder of her own children; the pain their loss will cause her does not outweigh the satisfaction she will feel in making Jason suffer.

For the balance of the play, Medea engages in a ruse; she pretends to sympathize with Jason (bringing him into her confidence) and offers his wife "gifts," a coronet and dress. Ostensibly, the gifts are meant to convince Glauce to ask her father to allow the children to stay in Corinth. The coronet and dress are actually poisoned, however, and their delivery causes Glauce's death. Seeing his daughter ravaged by the poison, Creon chooses to die by her side by dramatically embracing her and absorbing the poison himself.

A messenger recounts the gruesome details of these deaths, which Medea absorbs with cool attentiveness. Her earlier state of anxiety, which intensified as she struggled with the decision to commit infanticide, has now given way to an assured determination to fulfill her plans. Against the protests of the chorus, Medea murders her children and flees the scene in a dragon-pulled chariot provided by her grandfather, the Sun-God. Jason is left cursing his lot; his hope of advancing his station by abandoning Medea and marrying Glauce, the conflict which opened the play, has been annihilated, and everything he values has been lost through the deaths that conclude the tragedy.

MEDEA PLOT and CHARACTERSAs stolen DIRECTLY from Spark Notes….

Medea -  Protagonist of the play, Medea's homeland is Colchis, an island in the Black Sea, which the Greeks considered the edge of the earth--a territory of barbarians. A sorceress and a princess, she used her powers and influence to help Jason secure the Golden Fleece; then, having fallen in love with him, she fled her country and family to live with Jason in Iolcus, his own home. During the escape across the Mediterranean, she killed her brother and dumped him overboard, so that her pursuers would have to slow down and bury him. While in Iolcus, she again used her devilish cleverness to manipulate the daughters of the local king and rival, Pelias, into murdering their own father. Exiled as murderers, Jason and Medea settled in Corinth, the setting of Euripides' play, where they established a family of two children and gained a favorable reputation.

Jason -  Jason can be considered the play's villain, though his evil stems more from weakness than strength. A former adventurer, he abandons his wife, Medea, in order to marry Glauce, the beautiful young daughter of Creon, King of Corinth. Hoping to advance his station through this second marriage, he only fuels Medea to a revenge that includes the deaths of his new bride, her father, and his children.

Children  -  The offspring of Jason and Medea, the children are presented as naïve and oblivious to the intrigue that surrounds them. Medea uses them as pawns in the murder of Glauce and Creon, and then kills them in the play's culminating horror. Their innocent deaths provide the greatest element of pathos--the tragic emotion of pity--in the play.

Chorus  -  Composed of the women of Corinth, the chorus chiefly serves as a commentator to the action, although it occasionally engages directly in the dialogue. The chorus members fully sympathize with Medea's plight, excepting her eventual decision to murder her own children.

Creon -  The King of Corinth, Creon banishes Medea from the city. Although a minor character, Creon's suicidal embrace of his dying daughter provides one of the play's most dramatic moments, and his sentence against Medea lends an urgency to her plans for revenge.

Glauce -  Daughter of Creon, Glauce is the young, beautiful princess for whom Jason abandons Medea. Her acceptance of the poisoned coronet and dress as "gifts" leads to the first murder of the play. Although she never utters a word, Glauce's presence is constantly felt as an object of Medea's jealousy. (Glauce is also referred to as Creusa.)

Aegeus -  The King of Athens, Aegeus passes through Corinth after having visited the Oracle at Delphi, where he sought a cure for his sterility. Medea offers him some fertility-inducing drugs in exchange for sanctuary in Athens. His appearance marks a turning point in the play, for Medea moves from being a passive victim to an aggressor after she secures his promise of sanctuary.

Messenger -  The messenger appears only once in the play--he relates in gruesome, vivid detail the death scenes of Glauce and Creon, which occur offstage.

Nurse  -  Caretaker of the house, the nurse of the children serves as Medea's confidant. Her presence is mainly felt in the play's opening lament and in a few speeches addressing diverse subjects not entirely related to the action of the play.

Tutor  -  A very minor character, the tutor of the children mainly acts as a messenger, as well as the person responsible for shuffling the children around from place to place.