Hi there…my name is Martha! You don't know me yet, but you will.
Last Friday, I was at the opening of off the WALL Productions’ Not Medea. I wasn't late but I was almost late, but it didn't matter because I got a seat in the front row anyway! VIP! I looked around and saw some people I knew… actors, reviewers, the playwright, and plenty of people I didn’t. Ah… I was ready for a night of theater.
Suddenly, a woman came on stage and started talking to the audience. How unusual, I thought. And then she took a seat in the house, right next to me! She started talking to me and asking me questions. It was thrilling! I got to be part of the show!
I interviewed myself about my experience below.
Starring Drew Leigh Willams, Allan Snyder and Elizabeth Boyke, Not Medea is so good and so not scary at all! Here is what some others had to say:
In his review, Mike “Buzz” Buzzelli of ‘Burgh Vivant writes, “(Williams) is marvelous in her (still a secret) role. She commands the stage. She is bright and beautiful, harried and horrifying. Sliding up and down a scale of varying emotions.”
Rick Handler of Entertainment Central agrees, “Drew Leigh Williams is phenomenal in the role of Woman… (as she) almost cathartically, reveals information about her painful life… with a casual intensity with tinges of humor. And the humorist Gulliver of Breaking Burgh notes of Williams’ Woman: “It is a command performance and she nails the early jokes with ease (yes there are jokes)”.
The scantily clad Allan Snyder (am I allowed to say that!?) portrayed a perfectly obnoxious Jason. Gulliver writes, “Some of the most straight-up entertaining moments come from Medea’s interactions with her husband, fleece fetishist and major male privilege beneficiary Jason. Allan Snyder goes to town with the role and it’s a treat. He can’t gaslight the street-smart (dirt-path-smart?) Medea but he manages to do something arguably worse – he gaslights himself into believing his own bullshit so completely he makes you want to kill some kids just to knock him off his pedestal ”.
I’m not sure I agree with Rick Handler’s perspective on the scene with Allan Snyder: “He also has several hot make-out sessions with Medea on the large bed at center stage,” but the commentary made me chuckle, and who knows, maybe this will bring more people to the show! Sex, violence, passion, dead babies? Gulliver is right on in his Breaking Burgh review, “Seems those ancients were hankering for Jerry Springer melodrama as much as us moderns.” JER-RY! JER-RY!
Elizabeth Boyke’s Chorus is devoted and supportive. Handler writes, “Boyke excels in her role, especially when she softly but emphatically tries to talk Medea out of doing harm to her children.” I think Boyke is more loud than soft when she pleads with Medea, but she pleads with great fervor and heart. Mike Buzzelli notes: “The Greek Chorus (Elizabeth Boyke) wails and shrieks. Is she merely the chorus? Does she know she’s in a play? It gets weird, if fun and fantastic ways.”
“The 90-minute production (with no intermission) runs like clockwork. In a conversation at the reception, Director Allison Weakland said that it was easy directing such talented actors. The intimate setting of off the WALL’s theater gives audience members a chance to see the actors ply their craft up close, not from a distance” writes Handler.
You have two more weekends to see the show. Who knows, maybe you'll get to be VIP too!
til next time,
Martha
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