Well now, I'm taking this week off work! Simply, I need to use up my leave - and could do with the break. So, expect me to schedule something or other for every day this week. And, for a change, Meetup provided me with something to do yesterday! (Not live, mind - they were meeting in the evening again, so I couldn't meet them, but I could watch the show anytime.) Wouldn't you know it, Up in the Cheap Seats got back to scheduling things online - they took a break from that for a while there; doubtless the increased viral spread prompted their decision to schedule online again. Finborough Theatre is broadcasting a play called Blueprint Medea on YouTube, for free - the theme transmutes the original Medea play to the story of a Kurdish refugee in London. Yippee, it's been weeks since I saw a play! And I see the theatre has a few on offer..
In the event, I got caught up doing other stuff - easily done - and only got to watch it now. It's about an hour and a half, straight through - with a large cast, for such a small theatre. The quality of the video isn't marvellous - it's from a live performance last year, obviously never meant for broadcast, and the visuals break up a bit. The audio is quite muffled in parts - towards the end, I found it useful to display subtitles, or I'd never have known what they were saying.
Well, it's based on a Greek play, which might explain some of the performances - especially towards the beginning, they seemed stilted to me. Perhaps they were weighted down by history - whatever, it makes for sluggish watching. And while Medea does go crazy in the end (spoiler!), I thought she was unnecessarily intense throughout - a breakdown waiting to happen, rather than inspired by events in the course of the play. Hey-ho.
As in the original, she's with Jason - except in this case, that's just what he calls himself; he's Muslim, and called Mohammed, but thinks Jason "Jay" is cooler. And they have two sons. But hey, his father disapproves, and finds him another bride. And so Medea exacts a dreadful revenge, using both his sons and his new wife..
It isn't only about that - we see a snippet of her coming to London, getting a place in a hostel as a refugee: but she has trouble there, and ends up moving out and working in the black economy. She's working as a cleaner at the gym where Jay works out - that's how they meet. And as we get flashbacks of her Kurdish experience, we see how it moulded her - and how it hurts her when others in her English class don't even know where Kurdistan is. Desperate for acceptance, we see how invested she is in her relationship with Jay; however, his background won't allow him to consider a future with her - pay attention if you ever thought that refugees' backgrounds were all the same. I thought the way she exacted revenge on his fiancée was an interesting touch..
I nodded off a bit during the first half - thought it picked up when they'd had the kids and the story started to progress. The first half, however, I found weak - it had things to say, but I felt the points made were underdeveloped. But hey, it's an interesting play. Showing till the 14th of November.
I was planning to see a film today - and Lady Vengeance is the most interesting thing topping my list, currently: a Korean film about a young woman, unjustly imprisoned, who on release, well, seeks vengeance. I don't think I'll watch it tonight, but will hopefully get to it at some point tomorrow. Amazon Prime again.
Meantime, back to Meetup tomorrow - London Social Detours has Part Six of her reading of The Little Book of the Tudors. My first Meetup in over two weeks.. and the first of these I've been able to attend, midweek as they are. Well, I might not enjoy her reading style - but I am interested in the Tudors!
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