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Stunning Performance by Rose Bryne in MEDEA at BAM!
As old a story as Medea is, it never fails to amaze me how well it holds up over thousands of years. Though the myth was written in 700 BC this parable rings as clear as a bell today as it did then. In one of the many versions of the mythic tragedy which Euripides wrote, Medea is a sorceress and sometimes depicted as a priestess of the goddess Hecate. The story goes that Medea’s husband Jason falls in love with the King's daughter so Medea takes her revenge on him by killing the king, the daughter, and her own children. In other words, she makes a real splash!
Set designer Bob Cousins arranges the action in a hot white glowing vacuum, so clinically realized that it seems like the perfect place for a psychotic break to materialize. As we watch Director/ Playwright Simon Stone’s contemporary version unravel, we are caught in the turbulence of heat where we get the feeling trouble is coming.
Rose Byrne is frighteningly believable in her mad convictions in the starring role of Anna; a woman recently released from psychiatric care after finding out her husband Lucas has been having an affair with a very young woman who is the daughter of their mutual boss. Subsequently, she poisons Lucas, played compellingly by Bobby Cannavale.
Stone sets up a large screen above the stage where we can see every nuance of…
