Medea/ Medea * TNT
I don’t mind spending Saturday afternoon at the theatre – even when, for once, the sun is shining and everyone else is heading for the great outdoors. But it’s really too much to ask of anyone to sacrifice a chunk of their weekend to sit through this 76 minute interpretive muddle of the classic Greek myth.
I’m not usually so precise about running times, either, but there on stage is a pair of TV monitors, one of which counts the interminable seconds from start to finish. It’s something of a mixed blessing – I knew exactly when I’d be released, but also how many more minutes I’d have to endure.
If that seems cruel, then any director who says in a programme note that “the theatre is a toilet” is setting himself up to be judged on what his freshening up efforts produce. What Dylan Tighe has done is to render the myth of the jealous Medea completely unintelligible to anyone who isn’t already familiar with the story and irritatingly pretentious for those who are.
It’s possible, of course, that the man’s a genius and I’ve failed to realise just how clever he is - but a quick exit poll revealed an audience (both young and old) that had been confused, bored and frustrated in equal measure by the productions slow, over-crowded progress.
Suffice to say that Helen Schoene brings a commendable intensity to the role of the vengeful Medea who not only hangs her children but also takes a blowtorch to a canary, whilst Glauce (her replacement in the marriage bed) spends most of her time on stage either naked or sporting a horse’s head.
And despite all the surrounding paraphernalia which this installation employs (including a light box, washing powder, slug killer and a fish tank) the multi-media, multi-lingual trappings do little to turn this into a theatrically satisfying account of a tragic woman driven to infanticide when her husband takes a new wife.
Gate, Pembridge Road W11 3HQ (020 7229 0706) Until 18th July (£11-£16)
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