The tragedy Medea was written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides over 2000 years ago is set sometime after Jason, of Argonauts fame, returned home married to our protagonist. It tells the story of Medea, an immigrant, in a country where her status is defined by her husband, who is discarded when he wishes to marry the king’s daughter.

Satoshi Miyagi, frames the story as a play-within-a-play taking place in a café during Japan’s Meiji period (1868-1912). Nine women slowly enter with a veil over their head carrying a photograph of themselves and stand waiting for the arrival of well-dressed business men. They enter raucously and, with a copy of the play, choose five female performers to enact the tragedy for their entertainment. The remaining women leave back stage.

The company is known for its performance style of separating each role into what it calls a “speaker” and a “mover.” The male speakers use a bunraku-style chanting technique, to give voice to the role while the female movers engage in stylistic movement, inspired by Japanese forms like bunraku puppetry and kabuki dance ningyō-buri. This technique highlights the ways in which women’s voices have been controlled or suppressed in patriarchal societies.

Hiroko Tanakawa’s music, performed live in the style of a kabuki orchestra, enhances every moment, from the foreboding drums signalling vengeance to the sombre melodies reflecting loss.

The action, nearly 85 minutes, is a direct Japanese translation of the play, and is performed in Japanese with English surtitles portrayed on two flat screen monitors at the edge of the stage and a large screen above the action. Unfortunately, the font on the monitors although bright, was not large enough and the screen was partially obscured by the large, towering bookcase.

However, this doesn’t detract from what is a visual spectacle with dramatic period costumes and controlled choreography.

Medea’s struggle, reflecting a universal theme of a silenced woman driven to extremes, deeply resonates in this Japanese setting.

4 stars.

Reviewed by Nina Gardner.

https://www.thecoronettheatre.com/

Creatives

Director              Satoshi Miyagi, 

Music                  Hiroko Tanakawa

Set Design       Junpei Kiz

Sound Design                Yukino Sawada

Costume Design          Kayo Takahashi Deschene

Sub titles                           The Japan Society

Cast

Micari, Kazunori,

Yoneji Ouchi,

Kouichi Ootaka,

Yukio Kato,

Yuumi Sakakibara,

Yu Sakurauchi,

Yuya Daidomumon,

Miki Takii,

 Momoyo Tateno,

Ayako Terauchi,

Keita Mishima,

Haruka Miyagishima,

Fuyuko Moryama,

Maki Honda,

Miyuki Yamamoto,

Soichiro Yoshiue.