¶ … designing the stage for a play, and especially ancient Greek plays such as Euripides' Medea and Aeschilus' Agamemnon, there are a variety of important factors to bear in mind. The basis and central ideas of the play for example have to be kept in mind. These have to be reflected in the stage design. Furthermore the orientation of the designer and the audience need to be incorporated to form an ultimately enjoyable experience for the audience.
Traditionally for example violent scenes such as murder were performed off-stage in the Greek play. This however has changed and society currently has developed a taste for visual violence. These considerations are then important when designing the stage for Greek plays. Both Medea and Agamemnon are particularly violent tragedies involving murder and revenge within families. The shock effect of the events therefore provides sufficient material for visual violence if the stage designer should choose to incorporate this. On the other hand, a more traditionally oriented artist may prefer to maintain the Greek tradition of subduing the visual violence in order to focus more on the other aspects of the play. When designing the final scene of each play then, it is important to keep in mind the above-mentioned factors: the plot of the play, the orientation of the stage designer, as well as the expectations of the audience need to be considered in the design of the final gruesome scenes.
Medea
The action of Medea focuses on scarred emotions. Medea, having sacrificed her former life to be with Jason, is betrayed by his association with Glauce. Jason's emotion here is petty and self-serving, whereas Medea is justifiably angry and hurt when her husband rejects her and her children in favor of another woman. The wound is exacerbated when she is banished with her children in order to remove the possible danger of her revenge. Medea uses emotion to plan her revenge, and Jason allows her to remain for one day.
The violence in the plot of Medea then stems from her pain and disappointment. These are passionate and strong, but at the same time leaves a sense of emptiness, stemming from Jason's denial that he has acted out of anything but fairness towards everyone involved. Jason's obvious selfishness gives the audience greater sympathy for Medea than for her husband, and the murder of Glauce is completely understood and even justified.
The murder of Glauce and her father are described in fairly gruesome terms. In this case stage designers could therefore choose how much violence should occur on- and offstage. Personally, I would portray both the murder and the bodies of Glauce and her father as graphically as possible. They are killed by the poison in Glauce's gifts of coronet and cloak. Blood could then pour from the actor's mouths and skins and stain their clothing. The bodies could also remain onstage for some time in order to maintain and enhance the effect of the shock.
Modern audiences are very visually oriented, and thus the effect of onstage violence would be greater than the described violence of the traditional Greek play. This has been cultivated by films, works of art, and even the general orientation of society in terms of crime and violence in reality. Thus, in order to establish the cruelty of the murders in Medea as well as the depth of Medea's betrayed emotions. This then serves both the purpose of fulfilling audience expectation and the central emotion of the scene in the play.
The end of the play is however another matter. The true tragedy lies in the fact of not only Medea's betrayal, but also her pain. These come together when she makes the final decision to kill her children rather than let them be victims of Jason's revenge. The pain of losing them is not as important to Medea as the satisfaction of seeing Jason at least equally...
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