Medea

starring Annette Bening

World Premiere produced by UCLA Live

Annette Bening stars in a new interpretation of Euripides’ classic about the passionate and destructive affair between the mortal Greek hero Jason and the mystical and exotic Medea. Lenka Udovicki, who has directed theater and opera around the world, incorporates classical elements, such as a 12-woman chorus and on-stage musicians, into this stylized modern staging produced by UCLA Live. Written for an Athenian audience that was at the height of its Golden Age, “Medea” remains a potent critique of power.
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Elements of a Greek Tragedy Part III - MEDEA, THE FIRST FEMINIST

Written in 431 BCE, Medea displays clear evidence of feminism way before its time. While the initial laments of Medea and the nurse illustrate the role that women were supposed to play in patriarchal Greek society—weak, submissive and emotional—Medea’s true character is essentially as the opposite: proud, active and strong. She boldly contradicts her husband, strikes fear into King Creon himself, and ultimately disregards her “duty” as a mother. Furthermore, she fully recognizes and challenges the inequality of women, declaring in her soliloquy:

Of all Earth’s creatures that live and breathe,
Are we women not the wretchedest?
We scratch and save, a dowry to buy a man—
And then he lords it over us: we’re his,
Our lives depend on how his lordship feels.

And while Medea’s final act is unforgiveable, she proves her ambition and breaks free of the audience’s sympathy for her as a scorned woman, establishing that she does not need it.

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