Medea
Euripides (431 BC), trans. David Wiles
WHO
Jason, late 20s plus.
WHERE
Corinth: an open space.
TO WHOM
Medea, his ex-wife.
WHEN
A distant and mythical past.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED Jason is married to Medea â they have two small sons. She is high born, from Colchis: she followed Jason as he came through there looking for the Golden Fleece. They recently escaped the Island of Iolkos after Medea tricked the daughters of King Pelias into killing their father and were thankfully embraced as political refugees by the Corinthians. However, Jason has fallen in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth, and he has left his family to be with her. They are getting married the following morning. Medea is devastated and humiliated; she is beside herself with grief and loss and has just been given twenty-four hours to leave Corinth, with her sons. The King is scared of her â she has a fearsome reputation as a meddler with witchcraft. Jason has just heard of the edict deporting her, and is furious, as he now loses contact with his sons. He blames her volatility. Here he confronts her.
WHAT HE WANTS / OBJECTIVES TO PLAY
⢠| To portray himself as a rational man, attempting to do the best thing for his family â including Medea. |
⢠| To belittle the sacrifices Medea has made to be with him. |
⢠| To rise above her madness and ranting without losing his dignity. |
⢠| To get her to leave the children behind â ultimately for her own benefit. |
⢠| To get her to respond with obedience by talking to her like a child and patronising her. |
NOTE ON TEXT This translation is currently unpublished but readers are encouraged to find alternative versions in order to read the full play. A very readable and faithful translation by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael is published in Nick Hern Booksâ Drama Classics series.
Jason
Your outburst has meant being thrown out of the country.
I donât mind personally.
You are free to tell everyone that Jason is the scum of the earth.
But to go insulting the government!
Youâve really got off lightly with deportation.
I have been trying to soothe the Kingâs feelings,
Asking for you to stay.
But you stupidly persisted, you and your treasonous utterances.
So youâll be deported.
Nevertheless I am not lacking in concern,
And have come to see to your interests, Medea.
So that you and the children will not be short of money or in need.
Exile is a troublesome business.
You may hate me,
But itâs not in me to think badly of you [ . . . ]
It was an erotic entanglement that obliged you to protect me,
And Iâll spare you the graphic details.
Thank you for services rendered.
But as for saving my life,
I think you got from me more than you gave.
Now the evidence.
To start with, I brought you from outlandish parts
To live in Greece, and learn about morality,
How to resolve problems by law and not by physical force.
Greece recognised your intelligence and gave you due credit.
If youâd lived at the end of the earth, no one would know of you.
I would have no interest in personal wealth
Or a voice more musical than Orpheus,
If I didnât have recognition.
That concludes my side of the story.
Remember you started this conversation.
As for your attack on my marriage into royalty,
Let me demonstrate â (a) that itâs intelligent,
(b) that itâs sensible, and (c) that itâs
Doing you and my children a favour.
Please donât interrupt.
When I came here from Iolkos,
Given all the difficulties of my situation,
What greater piece of luck could I have had
As a refugee, than to marry the kingâs daughter?
It wasnât, as you intimate, through physical dissatisfaction with yourself
That I became smitten with a second woman,
Nor a desire with someone for increased fertility â weâve
enough children, Iâve no complaints â
But, and this is the central point,
In order that we could live better and want for nothing,
Aware as I am that friends turn their back on paupers.
I want to bring up my children as theyâre entitled,
And to father some more, whoâll be brothers to yours,
And to draw families together for their mutual advantage.
What benefit are children to you?
I could assist those now with us through the addition of more.
Isnât this sound thinking?
You wouldnât deny it, if it werenât for the sexual aspect.
You women are completely satisfied,
But if the physical side goes wrong,
Thatâs the end of the
entente cordiale.
GLOSSARY
Orpheus â the fabled musician whose songs lured birds from the trees
Entente cordiale friendly understanding
Hecuba
Euripides (c. 424 BC), trans. Frank McGuinness
WHO
Polydorus, ghost of the dead son of Hecuba.
WHERE
The shoreline of the ocean, Greece.
TO WHOM
The audience.
WHEN
Set around 400 BC.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED Hecuba and her daughter, Polyxena, together with large numbers of Trojan women, are prisoners of war after the Greeksâ victory at the first Great War between the east and west. Hecubaâs son had been left with a friend for protection, but as we hear in his speech, that friend has murdered him for his knowledge of the money hidden by his father Priam.
WHAT HE WANTS / OBJECTIVES TO PLAY
⢠| To lull the audience into what sounds like a story b... |