Medea

Euripides, Rachel Cusk

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781783198887
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Drama
• Index: Literature

World premiere of a new version of Euripides' classic Medea. Plays in London as part of the Almeida's Greek Season. Medea's marriage is breaking up. And so is everything else. Testing the limits of revenge and liberty, Euripides' seminal play cuts to the heart of gender politics and asks what it means to be a woman and a wife. One of world drama's most infamous characters is brought to controversial new life by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold (The Merchant of Venice, King Charles III, American Psycho) and award-winning writer Rachel Cusk (Outline, Aftermath).

SCENE 1

NURSE

She says she’s not hungry.

Pause.

That’s a lovely piece of chicken she’s let go to waste. It’s grilled you know, not fried. She’s very particular about that. But this was grilled – no fat on it at all.

It’s from the butcher’s – it isn’t supermarket meat. I know she’s particular about that. I went all the way up to the butcher’s for it on Market Hill.

I hate to see decent food go to waste. You should have seen some of the things I was expected to eat as a child. Vegetables all covered in black spots! The thing was, you had to eat them – in those days you had no choice.

MEDEA can be heard crying.

I’ve told her, crying won’t bring him back. Besides, it’s very ageing. But you can’t reason with her – you never could. It’s like trying to reason with a rock. The trouble is, she’s got no self-control.

Pause.

Such a waste! I wouldn’t eat my dinner once, and my father picked it up and crammed it in my mouth. No, she doesn’t get her way by crying. I said to her, you’re not a child any more. You’re a grown woman with two children of your own – whatever will people think? I said to her, pull yourself together for their sake!

TUTOR

My mother said children ruin your life.

NURSE

I said to her, all that feminism you went in for! You always gave the impression you could manage just as well without him, and now look at you – sobbing like a schoolgirl with a broken heart! Equal this and equal that – I said to her, the trouble was you let him think he could do as he pleased. Frankly I never saw what was ‘feminine’ about it. It’s just another word for girls keeping dirty habits.

TUTOR

My mother said it’s men that are the dirty ones.

NURSE

I said to her, there’s a reason men and women have always lived as they do – because it’s in their interests to live that way. But you thought you could do things differently, I said. You used to laugh at me, I said, but who’s laughing now? I said to her, you can’t just come back saying it was all a mistake. You’ve made your bed, I said.

TUTOR

My mother called it disgusting, what my father did to her in in bed.

NURSE

There’s no point wishing things had been different – you can’t turn back time! Particularly when there are children: there’s no denying them. I said to her, if you haven’t learned by now that as a mother you come last, then you’re in for a bumpy ride.

TUTOR

She said when I was born I broke her insides.

NURSE

I said to her, I could have told you but you wouldn’t have listened. She never did listen to me. The trouble was you spoiled her. You couldn’t keep your hands off her.

TUTOR

I’m a dirty pig.

NURSE

It’s no wonder she feels sorry for herself. You let her think she was important.

MEDEA appears and sits on TUTOR’s lap.

People like us never considered divorce, you know. We never took ourselves that seriously.

MEDEA

Why not?

NURSE

Children don’t need to hear about their parents’ dirt. You ought to tidy yourself up, put some mak...