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Medea – National Theatre Review: Unforgettable and Horribly Gripping

On July 22, 2014April 28, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

A scrupulously judicious modern-dress production

by Paul Taylor | July 22, 2014 | The Independent

Helen McCrory as Medea

(Richard Hubert Smith)

This is, incredibly, the first ever staging of Medea in the National Theatre’s 50 year history. It’s an omission all the more remarkable, given the complex feminist issues raised by Euripides’ unsparing portrayal of a dumped woman driven to exacting revenge on her treacherous partner by the ultimate (and tragically self-defeating) recourse of murdering their children.

Carrie Cracknell plugs the gap now with this horribly gripping, scrupulously judicious modern-dress production (part of the Olivier’s £15 Travelex season) in which Helen McCrory gives a performance of scorching emotional power and searching psychological acuity.

Our first view is of her two little sons lying on sleeping bags and watching TV in the dilapidated guest house – which gives onto a dark, creepy garden – in which they and their mother are camping out before banishment.

Medea Reviews

Medea Review: ”Helen McCrory is on exceptional form’

On July 22, 2014April 16, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Helen McCrory triumphs as a murderous Medea with a modern touch

By Henry Hitchings | July 22, 2014 | Evening Standard

Deadly passion: Helen McCrory as killer Medea ©Alastair Muir

Helen McCrory is on exceptional form as Medea, the most disturbing of Greek tragic heroines. The character tends to be portrayed as a she-devil, a murderous manipulator who’s wild with love and rage.

McCrory powerfully conveys Medea’s bitter destructiveness, while also suggesting the vulnerability of a woman shunned by a society where she’s seen as a cunning foreigner.

Euripides’ play, almost 2,500 years old, is clear-cut and intense — a piercing, painful vision of passion and betrayal. It is giving nothing away to say that Medea kills her own children after being spurned by their father Jason, who has married another woman. Even if you don’t know the plot, its trajectory is obvious from early on, and Carrie Cracknell’s production is pacy and direct.

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Helen McCrory Interview: ‘Medea is one of the greatest parts you’ll ever play as an actress’

On July 15, 2014April 12, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

The ‘Medea’ actress talks marriage, playing the female Hamlet and her craving for comedy

by Daisy Bowie | Time Out London | July 15, 2014

Over a lengthy career, Helen McCrory has played villains (Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films), romantics (Rosalind in ‘As You Like It’) and goons (Cherie Blair in ‘The Queen’). Now she stars as the ultimate anti-heroine, Euripides’s Medea, in a new NT production. She explains why it is the role for women.

Is Medea a bit like a female Hamlet?
‘It is, it’s one of the greatest parts you’ll ever play as an actress. Except it’s the reverse of Hamlet because he spends three hours worrying and does nothing, whereas Medea takes an hour and 15, massacres the whole fucking stage and walks off. But it’s great because she uses every shred of femininity that she has to do it, and she also has the complexity of guilt.’

Medea does some pretty nasty stuff: filicide, regicide. Is she a villain?
‘Ben Power’s adaptation focuses on disenfranchisement, on what happens when this highly educated, powerful, manipulative, eloquent woman, is not allowed to be part of society. But it also looks at acts of extreme violence, which often come from long-term brutalisation – which is Medea. She’s a product of a warring society, which is very relevant to today.’

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