A stark all-white set greets you when you take your seat to see Simon Stone’s updated version of Euripides’ classic Medea. Is this a clinic? A hospital? The future? A void? Two brothers are on stage busily playing video games on their electronic devices. Since many, if not most, of the audience knows the story (and the ending), the starkness presupposes the grim reality we are about to face.
Rose Byrne portrays Anna. She and Lucas are looking at her painting of Noah’s Ark. In this version, the animals are drowning. Metaphorically, the carnage begins early. “That’s not what happened” is followed sarcastically by “none of it happened.” Lucas (Bobby Cannavale) remarks, “I’ve missed you.” Soon after that, Anna reveals, “I’m not the woman I was when I did that.”
There is a nice unwrapping of mystery in this very loose adaptation of the Medea tale. Anna has made some mistakes and is attempting a comeback. Her husband Lucas, the father of her two children, now has sole custody. What happened to cause that? You will find out. It is not an original idea and the movie from which it comes is referenced. Was the film her inspiration? Nonetheless, she is clearly unstable, at best.
Video projections are increasingly being put to use in theatrical productions. Here they add an element of stylized creepiness that enhances the action considerably. Close ups on Ms. Byrne’s face make her wide-eyed reactions eerily chilling. What is going on inside her brain? Has she snapped already or is she simply teetering on the precipice of despair?
Like Medea, however, the Anna character has a strong backbone albeit a relentlessly misguided one. She finds out about Lucas’ new girlfriend Clara (Madeline Weinstein) but is not deterred in her fierce determination to bring her family back together. She wants a return to normal. From the beginning we know Anna is clearly medicated as part of her treatment. As the play unfolds, the depths of her cunning and revenge will be revealed.
Mr. Stone directed his own adaptation of Medea just as he did with the phenomenal Yerma at Park Avenue Armory in 2018. In both plays, the central female role is a juicy one. As Anna, Ms. Byrne is appropriately intense and ruthless. Her actions are appalling and desperate. Never does the plot’s slow burn momentum spin out of control. All of the performances are contained and realistic despite the bare set and artistic flourishes which punctuate the action.
In a short eighty minutes, this modern retelling of a woman’s rage will fulfill its mission to horrify. There is a clever balance, however, in attempting to get into her mind and explain her behavior. Her backstory reveals itself and it is an intellectually satisfying one. The ending is visually enthralling and as majestic as it is repulsive. Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale are parents together in real life and have joined forces in this Medea to deliver a deviously crazy modern spin.
Medea will be performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater though February 23, 2020.