Divorce: Corinthian Style
Medea's Children at A.S.U. Theatre
** (out of *****)
Mark S.P. Turvin
(w) 965-1021  (h) 894-5443
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@asu.edu

	It's a great idea. Mixing modern attitudes and phrases into 
Greek mythology to discover the basic, universal truths of 
jealousy, divorce and betrayal. 
	The Medea legend, which is one of the most wrenching and 
emotional of the Greek myths, is perfect stuff for a study of 
modern day divorce and it's effect on the kids. Medea, after all, 
was the woman who, after sacrificing her life and then being left 
by her adventuring husband Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts) for 
a lovely and rich princess, exacted a brutal vengeance on her 
husbands infidelities by butchering her children and exiting the 
scene in a fiery chariot. What better situation to put modern day 
children coping with their parent's divorce? Children tend to 
mythify their parents in the first place, and are often the 
innocent victims of their parents self-centered divorce 
maneuverings. 
	As is often the case, though, a great idea does not 
necessarily mean a great play. This Swedish export, written in an 
ensemble work by the Unga Klara Theatre of Stockholm and 
coordinated by Per Lysander and Suzanne Osten, swerves away from 
the "show, not tell" edict about halfway into its hour and five 
minutes. What's left is not the stuff of legends, but a muddied 
retelling of a gory myth that loses track of the action and the 
heart of the piece. This is the fault of the playwrights, and 
nothing that the director, Myrna Kranz, does can salvage it from 
it's eventual boring preachiness and emotional aloofness.
	Of course, this script doesn't get much help from two of its 
five performers. As Jason, Gus Edwards is not a powerful or 
emotional presence. A gifted playwright, Mr. Edwards seems to be 
lost onstage, seemingly searching for a motivation, and even 
sometimes his lines, and never making himself the imposing figure 
that could dominate his wife, nanny and two children.
	As the legendary Medea, a role often craved for by the best 
of actresses, Lisa Nix is thoroughly underwhelming. She seems more 
wimp than woman scorned. Her self-loathing monologues and tortured 
reproaches of her polygamous husband are delivered with the power 
of a dim bulb. Instead of terrifying her children, the nanny, and 
the audience, she seems more a comic figure. This is totally 
inappropriate considering that her final acts before her fiery 
exit are to burn her husband's new wife to death with an evil 
magic cloak and then axe her unsuspecting children in a final fit 
of spite.
	As the comic relief, the nanny Anna, Lisa Faser is cute. Her 
character is not much more than a spear carrier at some points, 
unnecessary Greek Chorus at others, and silly teenaged babysitter 
throughout, but Ms. Faser does as much as she can with this ill-
written and ill-conceived part.
	The two children, played by Darby Lynn Totten and Domanik 
Ryszard Rebilas, are wonderful, given their uneven and awkward 
parts. They are thoroughly modern, dealing with literally mythic 
parents. Their attempts to be noticed, and to understand their 
situation, are well done. Ms. Totten, in particular, did a great 
job as the older sister, while Mr. Rebilas tended more to act than 
be the younger brother. Their position, not unlike Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, is 
one of two minor charcters forced to understand their limited role 
in the great tragedy that marches heedlessly around them. It is 
only when dealing with the graphic and terrible ending that awaits 
them that the playwrights let down these two good performers by 
having Ms. Totten deliver a monologue explaining their fate rather 
than letting them act it out themselves. 
	If only the play had lived up to the sumptuous set, designed 
by Michael Cromer, or the solid lighting design of Jeffrey 
Boynton. The setting and mood were captured better in viewing than 
in writing or performance.
	Educational theatre is allowed, in fact expected, to have its 
experimentalism and lapses of performance, but there is plenty of 
source material out there that will both educate its performers 
and entertain its audience. It's really not necessary to head to 
Sweden to find new play scripts that will allow its youthful 
performers to grow.

Production Details:
Medea's Children by Per Lysander and Suzanne Osten
Translated by Ann-Charlotte Harvey
ASU Theatre, Tempe
965-3437
September 22-October 1, 1995

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