After my shower this morning I donned the club tee-shirt and
a navy sports coat, lowered my crown on my brow and prepared for the
performance. We read “Medea” by
Euripides. During preparations Janet
asked where I got my crown. She thought
it was wonderful that my wife had made
it for me the night before our reading of “Antigone”. I played “Creon” there too. Sarah S. played Medea and did an incredible
job! I always thought Medea was mad and
rambling in her early speeches, but Sarah’s chilling performance made it clear
that Medea was perfectly sane and plotting out loud. The death of Glauce and her father is one of
the most horrific scenes I’ve ever read, but the silent Medea stole the show
cackling and giggling as the messenger recites in horror the princess’
demise. Jessica as usual did a great
job. She was the messenger. She said she would have body checked Sarah if
they were together for upstaging her.
Paul O’M, a professional actor with classical experience played Jason and actually made the character
convincing. Medea and Jason’s (Sarah and
Paul’s) more intimate scenes were amazing!
I heard so many things differently this time. I heard things I’d not seen while reading;
o
At Hour 25, we had a discussion in the forums
about the Iliad’s Sheer
Cliff and Gray Sea Metaphor. So this
morning we heard of Medea “as if she were
a stone, or the ocean swell,” (28) I
will have to look at the Odyssey when Odysseus approaches the cliffs of Pheaecia.
o
“What mortals need is some other way to get
our children. There should be no female sex. With that, men would be rid of all
their troubles.” Medea, Euripides (571) Maya M and I have been studying the Five Ages
of Man; no women and no troubles is the Golden Age.
o “Aegeus; A man called Pittheus, king of Troezen. Medea;
He's Pelops' son. They say he's a very holy man.” (683-3) Who says,
Pittheus is a very holy man? He “died”
in the hubristic attempt to kidnap the goddess of death and prostituted his
daughter to King Aegeus. It’s like; “Peleus the most chaste of men,[i]
blameless Peleus, [ii] Peleus, one dear to
the hearts of the immortals[iii] Peleus
was a double murderer! The things that
make Pittheus and Peleus precious to the gods, I don’t understand.
o
“I'll turn
three of my enemies to corpses—father, daughter, and my husband.” (375) And yet, for all her unearthly viciousness
she doesn’t kill Jason. Is Eros’ terrible staff still stuck in her heart? Is Jason alive because Medea still loves him?
Great session this morning.
Medea knows that Jason will wander in utter misery until a piece of the Argo falls on his head and kills him. I guess, she thinks that Jason's instant death would be too merciful for him. Similar to gods' punishment of Bellerophon.
ReplyDeleteI'd defend Pittheus. His daughter has been raped by Poseidon. The father presumably knows that rapes by gods, unlike those by mortals, always result in pregnancies. So he must urgently find a mortal stepfather for his grandchild. I think he did his best. As for an attempt to kidnap Persephone - I hadn't heard of this. I knew that gods had queued to ask her hand in marriage, but her mother had some weird ideas of a Golden Age without males and sent away everybody. Maybe Demeter regretted later, when the Host of Many bypassed her and took her daughter. It would be funny if multiple mortals had also queued to kidnap Persephone after she got married, and to whom!
ReplyDeleteMaya,
ReplyDeleteYou cut me to the quick with the comments above! The daughter of Pittheus is Aethra! http://shortstories-bill.blogspot.com/2012/12/tfbt-aethra-and-winged-horses.html I worked so hard on that piece and for the Hour 25 version. I thought you'd remember. Evrything you discussed above is explained there.
Bill
Yes, she is Aethra. I checked the Library again:
ReplyDelete"And journeying by way of Troezen, he (i.e. Aegeus) lodged with Pittheus, son of Pelops, who, understanding the oracle, made him drunk and caused him to lie with his daughter Aethra. But in the same night Poseidon also had connexion with her."
To me, the text is ambiguous who was with Aethra first and who second. However, basic physiology makes me think that Poseidon was definitely first. Otherwise, the embarassment for Aegeus would be too great.