From The Open University's ARTS BLOG: Henry Stead, a PhD student in the Department of Classical Studies, has written a new translation of the ancient Roman play Medea that will be staged in Oxford, 15-19 February 2011.
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About the performance:
Stephen Spender Prize 2011
READING AT SPENDER AWARDS
Press
About the text:
"Punchy, sharp, visceral, the lines broken up in pauses as if, appropriately, spat on the page." -- George Szirtes
"Huge dramatic energy and great pace." -- Susan Bassnet
"It's not, as so many Senecan translations are, Baroque or exaggerated... I was delighted by its taut speakability." -- Edith Hall
About the performance:
“We had just spent sixty minutes engulfed in the turbulent, claustrophobic and terrifying mind of a woman scorned... Seneca, Stead, Slaney and the five Medeas wrenched us out of our comfort zones... rendering this adaptation intense, poignant and highly recommended.”
**** Holly Hewlett Oxford Theatre Review.
"A brilliant take on the famous myth, handled with utmost passion by each of the actresses. Translator Henry Stead has skilfully produced a metamorphosis of the Latin text to a clear, understandable and riveting English translation which upholds all the emotion of the original. It is not often that you see an ancient play so enjoyable and easy to follow..."
**** Laura Aitken-Burt, Oxford Theatre Review.
**** Holly Hewlett Oxford Theatre Review.
"A brilliant take on the famous myth, handled with utmost passion by each of the actresses. Translator Henry Stead has skilfully produced a metamorphosis of the Latin text to a clear, understandable and riveting English translation which upholds all the emotion of the original. It is not often that you see an ancient play so enjoyable and easy to follow..."
**** Laura Aitken-Burt, Oxford Theatre Review.
About the production
The ancient myth of betrayal, enchantment and murder takes confronting new form in Seneca's Roman version, here refashioned into a passionate fusion of text, image, music and physical theatre. Global boundaries have been breached, and as Medea's world collapses, unthinkable excess dissolves into unspeakable pain. Prepare to be engulfed...
INFORMATION
Seneca's Medea written by Henry Stead and directed by Helen Slaney opened at 9.30pm on Tuesday February 15th 2011 and the short run ended on Saturday 19th February 2011.
Tickets were sold at £6 / 5. Save the opening night it sold out for every performance.
Cast
Miriam Driessen
Julia Bourke
NS
Holly Creevey
Bess Roche
Crew
Holly Roberts - production manager
Edmund Singer-Kingsmith - producer
Lucy Jackson - assistant director
Jef Oswald - sound design
Hannah Cornwell - costumes and props
Tickets were sold at £6 / 5. Save the opening night it sold out for every performance.
Cast
Miriam Driessen
Julia Bourke
NS
Holly Creevey
Bess Roche
Crew
Holly Roberts - production manager
Edmund Singer-Kingsmith - producer
Lucy Jackson - assistant director
Jef Oswald - sound design
Hannah Cornwell - costumes and props