Medea Carries Out Her Revenge On The Timber Creek Stage

by Hector Cordova, Freedom High School
Hisses and screams cut through the silence as bodies surfaced from the audience, offstage, and even from beneath the ground to begin Timber Creek High School’s production of the classic Greek play, Medea.

Medea was written by Euripides and first performed in 431 B.C. It shows the mental deterioration that occurs when a woman's heart is torn. The play opens with Medea's discovery of the unfaithfulness of her husband, Jason. It doesn’t take very long until she plots her revenge, and carries it out.

Timber Creek High School had a vision and they made certain that every audience member felt Medea’s pain, anguish, and sheer power. All elements of theatre came together to convey the mood, and it held from start to finish. Even the curtain call was stylized with blood red lights shining, while the whole cast is on stage behind Medea laughing maniacally over her sons’ bodies.

Casey Lehman’s portrayal of Medea would make Euripides proud. She showed both sides of the character--the insane drive to get even with Jason and her sensibility towards the social aspect of the play: the rights of women. Luis Burbano’s Jason was the perfect complement to Casey’s Medea. Luis created a character which you couldn’t help but loathe. He contributed greatly to the play by making you sympathize for the very woman that would turn the knife to her own children.

Robin Eskin as the Nurse opened the play. In a few minutes, you were in Corinth itching for the next development. Michael Osborne gave Aigeus a comic role which helped provide a break to those who were feeling a bit down from all the biting scenes. The insanity dancers were spectacular at providing these. It is hard to stay still during long chunks of a production and still keep the same intensity throughout. They pulled it off flawlessly.

The technical work in Medea was integral to the production. The carefully chosen colors of the lights, costumes and set really worked. The insanity dancers, when frozen leaning on the set, actually appeared to be part of it. Matt Willis used the stage as a canvas for his lights and worked magic to a point where the stage appeared as a great painting. The costumes were all period, and the choice of colors represented the character’s significance while belonging to the same palette as the other elements. The technical crew melded together and formed the single most potent element of Medea- its atmosphere.

Timber Creek High School’s production of Medea, a play that tackled mature subject matter with gender roles and rights questioned, was gripping and powerful, even disturbing at times but it remained enjoyable from start to finish.

Originally published in The Backstage Noise, Fall, 2005