✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Medea, Almeida Theatre ★★★★★

25 Sep 15 – 14 Nov 15, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

REVIEW: Kate Fleetwood captivates as murderous, mad mother Medea in Rachel Cusk's drastically reworked version of the Greek myth

By Lucy Brooks on 5/10/2015

2 CW readers are interested
Kate Fleetwood as Medea: photo by David Stewart
Kate Fleetwood as Medea: photo by David Stewart
Medea, Almeida Theatre 4 Medea, Almeida Theatre Lucy Brooks


Medea, Almeida Theatre review: Culture Whisper says ★★★★★




The final instalment of the Almeida Greek season is certainly the boldest as it renders Euripides’ ancient tale of Medea hardly recognisable.





The historic heroine, who kills her children to punish her adulterous husband, becomes one of the most boundary-breaking, complex and unflinching female voices we’ve seen on stage.





In her first foray into stage-writing, controversial feminist writer Rachel Cusk wrings out the revenge tragedy into a fresh, bitterly raw exploration of a ravaged broken home and the toxic judgments and standards imposed on wives and mothers.





Having made her name as a writer with candid explorations of the trauma of both motherhood and divorce in confessional bestsellers A Life’s Work and Aftermath, Cusk brings the same deeply personal perspective to the Medea myth.





Gone are the politic: this tragedy is utterly, inescapably domestic. A chorus of yummy mummies rocks baby dolls and spouts patronizing platitudes. Medea and Jason argue down the phone with such alarming accuracy we could barely bear to watch. The two children struggle to make sense of it.





Under the direction of her husband Rupert Goold, Kate Fleetwood is a tour-de-force in the title role. With a mixture of predatory power and increasing desperation, she makes the notoriously difficult character vivid and relatable. Without ever trying to made Medea likeable or easy to watch, Fleetwood forces the audience into her agony and demands: why are you here? She certainly gives Helen McCrory's Medea a run for her money.





Towards the end, the staging grows a little full on and the taut tension unravels, particularly in a messy messenger scene told in verse. But there’s such potency and power to the central vein of the story that the patchier peripheral characters and increasingly over-wrought production distract rather than detract from the overall experience.





click for more theatre
recommendations
by Lucy Brooks

What Medea, Almeida Theatre
Where Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London, N1 1TA | MAP
Nearest tube Highbury & Islington (underground)
When 25 Sep 15 – 14 Nov 15, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £10 - £38
Website Click here for more information and to book via the Almeida



Most popular

London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings
Zadie Smith new novel, The Fraud, to be released in 2023, photo Justin Holler
An A to Z of trends for 2023

A little more...


  • SIXTY YEARS YOUNG

    Fresh and established writers feature in a new season of theatre for the Royal Court's 60th year

    VICKY FEATHERSTONE INTERVIEW

    Head of the Royal Court shares her hotly-tipped new talents and reflects on sexism in theatre

    KATIE MITCHELL AT THE BARBICAN

    The maverick director brings pioneering multimedia play about women and war to London

    LORCA IN LONDON

    Classic Spanish tragedy Yerma gets a modern makeover at the Young Vic


Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Ottolenghi, Islington

    Supper fare at Ottolenghi includes the likes of pan-fried octopus and slow-roasted Cabrito goat, with a wide range of vegetarian options inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean and Near East. They don't take bookings, though, so we recommend getting in early.

    Book Map
2

Almeida

Kate Fleetwood

Tragedy

Almeida Greeks

You might like

  • Lia Williams in Oresteia: photo by David Stewart

    Oresteia, Trafalgar Studios ★★★★★

  • Ben Whishaw, Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre: photo by Marc Brenner

    Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre ★★★★★

  • Pomona: photo by Manuel Harlan

    Pomona, National Theatre

  • Measure for Measure, Young Vic: review [STAR:3]

    Measure for Measure, Young Vic: review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×