Medea Tickets

um.. no. Please don't waste your money.

Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center - Ft Lauderdale

I appreciate theater and the work put in for the lighting and stage set up. The movements and certain parts were very intriguing, however, the acting was not at all very good. The actress playing Medea was NOWHERE NEAR believable, the entire time I thought of ways she could sound more into the character. She didn't catch my interest in the least, even in the most dramatic parts. Also, modernizing this classic took alot away from it. Its too simplified now and unrealistic. Overall, this was not a good production. I'm almost mad I wasted $70 on it... seriously.

Interesting twist on old story

Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center - Ft Lauderdale

The story line was interesting. Well adapted to modern times. The acting was mediocre sometimes over the top. The boy's performance was commendable.

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

It was very well done! I'm still confused about the flag at the end, but it doesn't matter. It was a great performance.

Medea

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

Bening was amazing, as always, and this production made Euripedes' play accessible to a general audience, not just Greek theatre scholars. This is my first "Medea," and it's fascinating to me that a man living more than two milleniums ago could be this aware of how intelligent women really felt, even then, about their lot in life. Medea was a man's worst nightmare and the earliest radical feminist in literature that I know of.

poor Euripides

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

This supposed to be a drama but spectacle lacked any nerve. Jason peformance was as bad as it only can be. Medea did not seem to really convincing. In fact viewers were laughing in most inapropriate moments during the performance (e.g. Medea's exit with children bodies). This was most definitely caused unconvincing play. I witnessed miracle in Lourdes (scenes with Aeges), I was watching bizarre rendition of Sartre's The Flies (first scene with Nurse waving fly-flap) I was watching Corinthian women taking of their t-shorts and putting it back for no reason. This was not Euripides tragic Medea It is difficult to guess what director wanted to say. Her Medea was neither classic nor modern. At the end my impression was that this supposed to be a poor tragicomedy. Was this director's intention?

Annette Benning did a great job

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

The use of modern setting and the interspersed modern lines just didn't work. with this Greek Tragedy. Being from out of town. I could not find good directions online to a place on UCLA campus. The online tickets had Ralph Freund Theater at McGowan Hall (McGowan Hall was wrong) and there are no signs directing U anywhere on UCLA. Luckily I had given myself plenty of time and a UCLA student sent us in the right direction.

Bad Acting

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

Bad acting for the most part, poor direction. On the good side, it was only 90 minutes long.

so worth the time and the money

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

the reviews in the paper should definately be ignored annette bening brings a power to medea that is MEANT TO BE SEEN. i was astonished by her performance. in spite of knowing the play inside out i was hoping for her to not kill the children -- which is the sign of a great production. i am so very glad i saw this very special theatrical moment. thom

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

Acting great. Great show. The setting was a bit confusing, and possibly a devise for some special effects, but it ultimately didn't really effect the show negatively. Go see it!

See it for the directing

Freud Playhouse - UCLA Live - Los Angeles

The director has chosen to set this story in a Sahara-like landscape, with an industrial looking wall upstage. Bereft of color and bleak, we don't know where we are -- Afghanistan? Certainly not Greece, as the script claims. Some nowhere land, some hell for the human spirit. The Corinthian Woman (Mary Lou Rosato) is portrayed as a crazy homeless woman; interesting choice, not sure what to make of it. The chorus are a bunch of women in tight jackets and pants who move and speak in military precision. (Diction is outstanding for all characters but one, an old soldier.) Then Medea enters and pulls her cowl off to reveal herself in a red dress with a butch haircut, looking more like Jamie Lee Curtis than Annette Bening. This is something of a disappointment; I suppose they shot the publicity photos long before rehearsal but I found her long hair, kohl rimmed eyes and malevolent stare intriguing in the brochure, it may even be why I bought tickets. This Medea seems much more menopausal, or like a cancer victim in her last stages of denial. Ms. Bening's performance is effective yet curious; she never seems less than in charge of a moment, you never see the bitter poison of rejection eating away at her. What you do see is a big commanding performance of a self-assured actress who can manipulate her voice effectively. If this is all you want for an evening of theatre you will not come away unsatisfied, but I was puzzled by the actress's curtain call when she came bounding onto the stage all fun and frivolity, whirled the director around waved girlishly at the audience as if to say, "See? I'd never kill my own kids!" It was a moment of disconnect that perhaps explained why I never fully felt the emotional pain of her character. I didn't expect her to come staggering onstage like Zoe Caldwell (who I saw in Medea years ago) looking pained and drained as if to say, "See how I suffer, even now?" But it was a telling moment which confirmed my suspicion that she had not let the character in.. The high theatrics of the production are what make me recommend it. It had the kind of ambiance you can only find in the theatre. By the way, I brought my 14 year old daughter, an aspiring actress, who was underwhelmed.