N.T. LIVE:"MEDEA"

For our latest “N.T. Live” experience, that cinematic phenomenon (in case you hadn’t heard) where the best of London theatre is transmitted live to those of us “unfortunate” enough to live out in the wilds, we returned to the same venue where we first attended a screening several years ago, which was Manchester’s Cornerhouse Arts Cinema, which (scarily enough for me) meant venturing into the big city after work, (which is always troubling), and grabbing a meal at “Kitchenette” (which is less so - other eateries are available) before heading off for our latest “bit of culture…”

I’d enjoyed our first visit to this particular venue very much, and am not entirely sure why we switched, really. It could have been something to do with its location being slightly less convenient, or the long, late night trek home, or it might just have been to do with the quality of the seating, or just the person who booked our tickets, but this was our first time back and I must admit to preferring it to the Multiplex, not least because the Cornerhouse Cinema does effectively become a theatre for the night and they will not admit latecomers.

The play this time was the very last performance in the acclaimed run of Ben Power’s new version of  “Medea” by Euripides directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Helen McCrory in a powerhouse of a central performance as the wronged woman seeking revenge on her former husband, Jason, who has rejected her (the very same “Jason” notorious of “The Argonauts”), by means of the murder of his new wife and her own children.

Ah yes… The tragic tale of a child killer… The perfect way to relax and have a jolly night out… and, as an added “bonus”, I’ll never be able to watch “Jason and the Argonauts” in quite the same way ever again.

I feel that I can mention these “spoilers” by the way because I came to the play myself not knowing anything very much about it other than how good it was supposed to be, and the “Behind the Scenes” piece broadcast just before it started managed to mention all of those very plot points, which might (it didn’t) very well have “ruined” the show for anyone like me who didn’t actually know the story.

The show itself felt very fresh and modern and, whilst it included some directorial choices that I considered to be quite “odd”, and one or two rather understated or unemotional performances from Kreon, the Attendant, and the Nurse (about which my own preference for performance poetry may have tainted my opinion somewhat when I want the word-pictures to be more powerfully expressed), I really couldn’t find much to criticise, and, as far as stage shows go, it was pretty darned good.

As I mentioned to the Beloved as we were leaving “Well, that was cheerful!” but I couldn’t deny how brilliant the production was, or how powerful, especially when you think that this story was being performed, mostly by men and for men admittedly, two and a half thousand years ago and was dealing with some very modern and relevant issues that we still have to deal with today.

Plus, given its running time of one and a half hours, played without an interval, the whole thing was over and we were back in the car park, and thinking furiously about how I might stage my own version, by nine o’clock in the evening.

And that, my friends, is how to do theatre…!