SOMETIMES THINGS HAVE TO GET VERSE TO GET BETTER
Medea: Re-Versed, a Hip Hopera by Luis Quintero, has landed at the Frank Shiner Theatre and it is, without doubt, a memorable experience. Old-school hip hop, the one used for social commentary in the early 80s, is the beat throughout the piece — familiar-sounding music created by Quintero to smoothly deliver his poetry. This is a straightforward play without fluff or lengthy over-explaining in search of a right answer. Medea was written by Euripides to remind us that chaos lurks in our world and there is no answer.
Sarin Monae West
A three-piece band was playing when I arrived; beat-boxer Mark Martin was upstage-center, dressed in a quintessential hip hop DJ outfit enriched with golden Greek trims and motifs (uncomplicated but powerful costumes by Nicole Wee), with two actress-musicians on each side, Siena D’addario on guitar and Melissa Mahoney on bass, cool and unbothered. The play starts and we find out that Quintero, who was standing the whole time off stage welcoming the public in an unassuming way — so much so that I thought he was a stage hand — is the chorus leader and Emcee of the play.
Stephen Michael Spencer, Luis Quintero, and Jacob Ming-Trent
He reminds us that Medea is a Georgian princess who is the daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis, an ancient region at the end of the Black Sea, granddaughter of Helios (the Sun God), and niece of powerful Circe and Pasiphaë, yet she gets no respect from men, including her husband. When Jason and his Argonauts arrived in Colchis looking for the Golden Fleece, young Medea fell in love with him, losing her mind and doing the unthinkable, like young lovers often do. In order to help him with his quest, she had to go against her father and use magic to betray her country. If that wasn’t enough, during the escape, she had to kill her brother and the unthinkable became an unbearable tragedy. “My lady went out dispersing his remains/ got married to Jason and then sailed away/ she had cured the curse of her chest in pain.” Forced to leave her homeland for Corinth, Greece, you would think Jason worshipped her after what she had done for him but ten years into the marriage, and the birth of two young sons, he is having second thoughts, and that is where the prologue ends and action starts.
Sarin Monae West, Stephen Michael Spencer, Luis Quintero, Jacob Ming-Trent
Jason is more a smug child than a villain here, a very unsympathetic character that Stephen Michael Spencer sometimes overplays. Jason wants to abandon Medea to wed Creon’s daughter, a young teen, so he can elevate his station. Creon, King of Corinth (a dazzling Jacob Ming-Trent, who also plays King Ageus [sic] and the Messenger) doesn’t care; he is an autocrat and Medea, to him, can be banished because she is not a Greek but an immigrant, even if she has been living in the city for 10 years, and a murderess, even if she has killed to save her husband. Medea, at the time, was what we now call a refugee.
Stephen Michael Spencer, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sarin Monae West, Mark Martin
Sarin Monae West’s fills the stage with a fiery physicality for her great entrance as Medea, embodying her complex character as Euripides defined her, weighed down by conflicting thoughts. West plays her multifaceted character flawlessly throughout, turning ice-cold, furious, bitter, or broken in a second. In Battle Rap style, she challenges Jason, Creon, and Ageus, never missing a beat. We end up understanding Medea’s insane logic because of West’s powerful performance.
Stephen Michael Spencer and Sarin Monae West
A world premiere produced by Red Bull Theater, co-produced by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, co-conceived and directed by Nathan Winkelstein, Medea: Re-Versed is anything but didactic or boring. Both Matt Otto‘s sound design and beatboxer Mark Martin‘s music direction are tight, but the scenery by Emmie Finckel and lighting by Cha See are sacrificed by the size of the venue and could definitely use more creativity, although both artists did the best with what they had. This play definitely deserves a larger theater.
Medea is not just a scorned woman who sacrificed her children to feed her revenge; her story has challenged our imagination, our deepest fears, for almost 2500 years. Quintero, with self-confidence and savoir faire, makes it simple but singular, emphasizing the human tragedy. After experiencing two goddesses, West and Medea, I am sure you will walk away singing “My dear Medea dea.”
Sarin Monae West, Jacob Ming-Trent front) and Mark Martin
photos by Carol Rosegg
Sarin Monae West
Medea: Re-Versed
Red Bull Theater and Bedlam
a co-production with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
ends on October 13, 2024
The Sheen Center Shiner Theatre, 8 Bleecker Street
for tickets, visit Red Bull Theater
