Carlos Hernandez I could certainly see that. The guy who played Frodo in all of the LOTR movies consistently overacted to the point where you couldn't take him seriously half the time.
Quite right. She not only overacted but presented Medea as a mad woman, a woman who killed her children not because she wanted to protect them from a life of misery in a xenophobic Athens but simply because she was mad and a witch. It's a very common interpretation but a totally wrong one. Pericles, one of the prominent men in Athens just a few years before Euripides wrote Medea, decreed that kids, if they are to be admitted into citizenship must have both parents born in Athens and be Athenian citizens. Medea's kids could therefore be declared as barbarians and their fate quite precarious. This was also a patriarchal society which adds to the possibility of an ominous future for them. Euripides wanted to show Athenians that they have lost their openness, their traditional welcome to the stranger (Zeus was a protector of the stranger) and that such things were immoral and destructive. What was Medea to do under such circumstances? And isn't the plight of Medea's children the very same plight that children of refugees encounter as they climb aboard leaky boats heading for Zeus only knows where? Exaggerated acting. Wrong take of the character of Medea. Perhaps it's the director's fault.
What a great production. To sum up Medea in a phrase, hell hath no fury like that a woman scorned. Medea was a woman treated badly by not only the man she loved & married and bore two sons to, but the king and kingdom she came to live in, forever leaving her own homeland behind. Many would throw a self-pity party, but Medea was better than that and Jason should have known better. She served up some napalm-style retribution on the king and his daughter, the kingdom and a dash of infanticide on Jason for good measure to really cut him to the core like he did trying to abandon her. Call her a monster, but she was and is one hell of a strong woman--something that was meant to make the privileged all-male audience in ancient Athens squirm. Women were supposed to be submissive, meek & quiet. Medea was none of those things and that is the power of her character. People complaining that she's no mother or a monster are missing the point entirely. Medea is a metaphor about love, honor and respect and how a lack of those things can backfire at huge cost.
+Jerry Fisher She still killed her own children. I don't think she was strong. She was weak enough to give into her own anger. Not saying it wasn't a satisfying to see Jason suffer though. I guess I'm weak too.
JuanDVene I understand why you feel the way you do, but you can't see the forest for the tree you're focusing on. If nothing else, Medea is supposed to be a warning to men who take women for granted and don't give them the same due they demand for themselves.
JuanDVene I just remembered that the BBC did a very short documentary about Medea that helps to set the ancient context in which it was first produced. If you do a search in CZcams using "BBC Medea" as the search term it should come up right at the top of the results. It is a great way of becoming familiar with the mores of the ancient Greeks and helps explain why this play still has the power to resonate with us today. You'd be surprised how often it is produced today on stage. There are productions that have a more contemporary look and spin but stay true to the message of a betrayed wife getting revenge. It is surprising how much the ancient Greeks had to say about the human condition and how important the message still is today.
Two quibbles, Jerry, the first of which is that Medea did not make the statement about hell and fury. Congreve (an English playwright) did. What Medea said was "A woman is in all things, timid, shy, weak and can’t even look at iron fashioned for war but when she’s deceived by her husband, when her marriage is mocked, there is nothing more murderous than her." (bacchicstage.wordpress.com/euripides/medea/) And the second being, the actress not only overacted but presented Medea as a mad woman, a woman who killed her children not because she wanted to protect them from a life of misery in a xenophobic Athens but simply because she was mad and a witch. It's a very common interpretation but a totally wrong one. Pericles, one of the prominent men in Athens just a few years before Euripides wrote Medea, decreed that kids, if they are to be admitted into Athenian citizenship must have both parents born in Athens and be Athenian citizens. A new law which intensified the bias and persecution of women and foreigners (then called barbarians). Medea's kids would therefore be declared and treated as barbarians and their fate quite precarious. This was also a patriarchal society which substantially adds to the possibility of an ominous future for them. Jason's assurances that they would be looked after rang hollow, even to the Corinthian women. The kids, if left in Corinth, would, at the very least be treated abominably. They might have even be killed and a scholiast commenting on the margin of one of the scripts says that in actual myth, Medea left the kids behind and the Corinthians had killed them. One may well spend a few minutes speculating about that. Euripides wanted to show Athenians that, with this latest law against the foreign woman by Pericles, they have lost their openness, their traditional welcoming nature to the stranger, to the seeker of refuge (Zeus was a protector of the stranger and the refugee) and that such things were inhumane, immoral and destructive, lethally so. And let's not forget also that the Corinthians would be seething for revenge since she had killed their king and their princess. Those boys would not have an easy time of it. What was Medea to do under such circumstances? And isn't the plight of Medea's children the very same plight that children of refugees encounter as their parents climb aboard leaky boats heading for Zeus only knows where? Exaggerated acting. Wrong take of the character of Medea. Perhaps it's the director's fault. A stunning work by Euripides, a bizarre work in this film production.
That is incredible to read. I'm no expert at all. I went with what I've read and seen. I wonder what Euripides would say if he could see how misinterpreted Medea is today? I don't think I've seen any production that truly does justice to Medea. The very few I can find here at CZcams seem to follow a similar pattern. I'm not sure what to make of Maria Callas' version. Have you heard of any production that is more faithful? I'd love to see it. Thanks for the context. I truly had no idea.
Just a personal opinion No matter how you sliced it those boys were going to die whether or not Medea killed them So Medea just added salt to that open wound
Do you mean this production we’re watching is the exact same production you saw? The same stage? Was there only production? Were they recorded as this was?
@@RoLee705 I don't think the one I saw at the University of Tennessee was taped, but it might have been the same tour. They were traveling around, doing it at colleges all over the country, if I recall correctly. It was almost forty years ago, so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I do remember seeing Mitchell Ryan walking across Kingston Pike in Knoxville later that night, presumably heading for one of the many bars on the Strip. :)
Euripides was a playwright, like Shakespeare his plays should be seen not read. Disclaimer: Obviously reading is good for your butt-cells, so do that too, but you get the idea.
I had the honor of acting opposite Jacquie who beautifully played my defense attorney in the fact-based CBS drama 'A Death In Canaan' directed by Tony Richardson and in which I played the lead. And she brought so much power, authority and compassion to her role that she made my role easier than it would have been without her representing my unjustly accused character. And what a wonderful person she was! I'll never forget her and only wish I could have seen some of her New York stage work like Sam Shepard's 'Buried Child'. Interestingly, Shepard's wife at the time -- Olan -- played a small supporting role in 'Canaan'. And you were lucky indeed to have had Jacquie as a teacher. I envy you!
In 1967, then Zoe Caldwell was a guest on *The Tonight Show* starring Johnny Carson. The show was taped in NYC; Vicki Lawrence was guest hosting. Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Lawrence got on wonderfully well; Ms. Caldwell spoke so openly and honestly about once having worked on the packing line in a Melbourne pickle-processing plant. The audience was wholly disarmed and enchanted by their wonderfully grounded, down-to-earth humour and sincerity. A then 16 year old boy, who had been in the audience, and who had been somehow profoundly mesmerised by something he wouldn't understand for years, found himself standing next to Ms. Caldwell on the lift headed for the ground floor. He found himself speaking with Ms. Caldwell, and despite having a photographic memory, he never could remember what he had very probably gushed. But what he never *could* forget was Ms. Caldwell's glowing, slightly hooded eyes, and upwards sly smile that so mysteriously and silently spoke volumes of Recognition and Collegiality. And her Wisdom and kindness were so very well placed, and vindicated.
I read through the play, and then watched this. I cant believe how much is shown through acting than just reading through the script. These actors were amazing! I would love to see this live.
This reminds me of a similar tragedy: when one reaches in to grab a chocolate muffin only to realize it is not composed of chocolate chips, but raisins.
This from a review in the Washington Post By Megan Rosenfeld April 20, 1983 True to this day! "Caldwell is still incomparable in her Tony Award-winning performance as the awesomely vengeful Medea. Her intensity, panther-like fury and agonizing heartbreak are those of a woman driven mad by the emotional violence done to her by her husband Jason, who leaves her for a younger woman and then seems surprised that she might be upset. One of the strengths of Caldwell's performance is that her madness is not used as an excuse for her actions, but seems a plausible reaction to her husband's behavior. The grandeur of Medea's agony, and the horror of her revenge, are the cathartic elements of this play, and Caldwell makes the catharsis accessible. Judith Anderson, playing the nurse, is shown to perhaps better advantage in this version than she was on the stage. Her performance is clean and wonderfully simple, and the close-ups of the camera allow her more subtlety."
Plays are meant to be watched and heard. Instead of reading the text I listened to the audiobook then watched the play. Less time and easier to understand. Prepared for tomorrows exam!
Messylin You fail to see it from the perspective of those who produced the play. They all start out in written form. Obviously they were meant to be performed, but you don't gain a real perspective until you've simply read the lines, and inferred the meaning from it yourself. If you only watch one play, then you've only seen one person's take on it. You could go out and watch 500 different plays, or you could read it yourself and gain your own understanding. It's impossible to realise the writer's true vision, because you would have to be them, or have them explain it to you first hand. Reading it gives you the least skewed view.
Loved this - thanks for posting... The lead WAS great as Medea; delirious, neurotic, vulnerable, pathetic, a lot of different emotions - a broad range actually... ;)
To add to the arguments here on whether Medea was excessively vengeful or not, I found compelling arguments offered by Thomas Cahill in his book "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter". Greek "aristocratic" male society at the highest level (Jason) was no place for a foreign-born female desirous of traditional male honor in marriage.
+Honestly Kia Yup, a mother who kills her own children is not a mother at all (not implying I'm against abortion as those boys were already living and running around). To an extent, I can understand her grief, but she just reeks of unhealthy obsession over Jason's actions. As they say, 'don't punish the son for the sins of the father.'
All humans made slaves have done the same. Woman has been the greatest slave and injustice in ALL KINGDOMS of men and this is what it looks like to be a slave at the whim of a demon.
Firstly, I know this was a long time ago but I feel the need to address it. Don't you realize that even if what she did is terrible, it was, in a way, done with love? Imagine it like this, Medea betrayed her country and now home after being betrayed by Jason, but in the process of her getting 'revenge', she created so many enemies that wouldn't just look for Medea, but her children as well. I agree that it was an unhealthy obsession, but if you knew the background, Medea was put over a spell to fall in love with Jason, so when he betrayed her, that love turned into hate, still love, but bad love. Sorry if I might have bothered you, but please consider it this way, as this is also a greek tragedy and shouldn't really have a happy ending.
The copywrite exclaimer at the beginning is hysterical. You think Euripides copywrited his plays? That's why we have them to this day. And it's ironic because anybody can watch this on CZcams now
Saw this production when first aired on PBS (I think it was), but didn't tape it. Has never come out on DVD, and pleasantly surprised to discover it here! Many thanks to Carole Carroll for uploading this on CZcams, and for trying to preserve a piece of theater history. Anyone know what year this was first broadcast?
But utterly wrong. Medea was not a jerking and shaking mad woman. She was a mighty character, protector, rather than a murderer of her children, protecting them from a life of persecution, if not death. Rather she, their mother kill them and the xenophobic Corinthians, her husband being one of them. If Jason, their father, abandoned them to marry the princess, what hope did they have with the rest of that society? Don't forget also that the Corinthians would be seething for revenge since she had killed their king and their princess. Those boys would not have an easy time of it.
I think by watching Pasolini's movie one understands who Medea was and what she had to go through to be together with Jason. Her grief and rage become more understandable.
I watched a short sequence of J A performance here on YT, but it didn't seem anything special to me. What did you like of her? J A definitely inspired Z C performance, but I feel the gestuality of the former is too artificious.
Judith Anderson had an amazing intensity. It was as is she was actually enraged and suffering. And Aline McMahone gave a superb performance as the nurse.
I'm playing Medea in the performance my college groups doing... This is so helping me with my performance. Seeing another person perform the character helps me understand it more, and know what I'm doing already is correct I just need a little more work it is gonna help me progress so much.
1katiemariee Well I hope you enjoyed the process. Your courage in tackling one of the great dramatic roles of all time is commendable. Good luck in the future. Cheers.
Hi, thank you for uploading this! I have used it in drama class many times. I was wondering if you would be willing to open it up for community transcription? There are parts where my students struggle to hear what the actors are saying, and I'd like to start adding accurate subtitles to it.
would anybody happen to know where I could get a script of this version? I have found most of the others online but this one as you know does not correlate...
It was part of an assignment for world literature course to watch this video, I was thinking oh my god! 1 hour 27 minutes long video will feel like forever! once I started it, It passed really quick as the performance was great and the story is very interesting, I kept looking forward what is going to happen next. I would rather watch this play over drama movies. It is my second time to watch a play and I am amazed. It did put me in a sad mood as if it actually happened in real life and I am grieving with them. It is my first time studying world literature and I am enjoying it. Call me a nerd I don't care. LOL
Honestly, I just feel horrible for all concerned. Medea, poor, destroyed creature, went half mad and killed her own children. The poor princess, who did nothing but marry one already taken. Creon, who did not deserve to die so violently. Jason, though vile he may be, who lost what he once loved. And, of course, the poor innocent children, whose only crime was being Jason's seed. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Or love to blackest hatred turned.
A WARNING TO ALL WHO ARE LOOKING TO WATCH THIS INSTEAD OF READ IT: This version of Medea is not universal and makes some changes to the original. Just trying to save people some trouble.
The woman that played Medea was really quite phenomenal in this. What a great actor, especially during those closing scenes.
i understand it is dramatic...but i feel she was a little too dramatic... to the point where it doesn't feel tragic anymore
Carlos Hernandez I could certainly see that. The guy who played Frodo in all of the LOTR movies consistently overacted to the point where you couldn't take him seriously half the time.
+Carlos Hernandez Yeah kinda hated her sometimes.
Quite right. She not only overacted but presented Medea as a mad woman, a woman who killed her children not because she wanted to protect them from a life of misery in a xenophobic Athens but simply because she was mad and a witch. It's a very common interpretation but a totally wrong one.
Pericles, one of the prominent men in Athens just a few years before Euripides wrote Medea, decreed that kids, if they are to be admitted into citizenship must have both parents born in Athens and be Athenian citizens. Medea's kids could therefore be declared as barbarians and their fate quite precarious. This was also a patriarchal society which adds to the possibility of an ominous future for them.
Euripides wanted to show Athenians that they have lost their openness, their traditional welcome to the stranger (Zeus was a protector of the stranger) and that such things were immoral and destructive. What was Medea to do under such circumstances?
And isn't the plight of Medea's children the very same plight that children of refugees encounter as they climb aboard leaky boats heading for Zeus only knows where?
Exaggerated acting. Wrong take of the character of Medea. Perhaps it's the director's fault.
RagingZen I agree
What a great production.
To sum up Medea in a phrase, hell hath no fury like that a woman scorned. Medea was a woman treated badly by not only the man she loved & married and bore two sons to, but the king and kingdom she came to live in, forever leaving her own homeland behind.
Many would throw a self-pity party, but Medea was better than that and Jason should have known better. She served up some napalm-style retribution on the king and his daughter, the kingdom and a dash of infanticide on Jason for good measure to really cut him to the core like he did trying to abandon her.
Call her a monster, but she was and is one hell of a strong woman--something that was meant to make the privileged all-male audience in ancient Athens squirm. Women were supposed to be submissive, meek & quiet. Medea was none of those things and that is the power of her character.
People complaining that she's no mother or a monster are missing the point entirely. Medea is a metaphor about love, honor and respect and how a lack of those things can backfire at huge cost.
+Jerry Fisher She still killed her own children. I don't think she was strong. She was weak enough to give into her own anger. Not saying it wasn't a satisfying to see Jason suffer though. I guess I'm weak too.
JuanDVene I understand why you feel the way you do, but you can't see the forest for the tree you're focusing on. If nothing else, Medea is supposed to be a warning to men who take women for granted and don't give them the same due they demand for themselves.
JuanDVene I just remembered that the BBC did a very short documentary about Medea that helps to set the ancient context in which it was first produced. If you do a search in CZcams using "BBC Medea" as the search term it should come up right at the top of the results. It is a great way of becoming familiar with the mores of the ancient Greeks and helps explain why this play still has the power to resonate with us today. You'd be surprised how often it is produced today on stage. There are productions that have a more contemporary look and spin but stay true to the message of a betrayed wife getting revenge. It is surprising how much the ancient Greeks had to say about the human condition and how important the message still is today.
Two quibbles, Jerry, the first of which is that Medea did not make the statement about hell and fury. Congreve (an English playwright) did. What Medea said was
"A woman is in all things, timid, shy, weak and can’t even look at iron fashioned for war but when she’s deceived by her husband, when her marriage is mocked, there is nothing more murderous than her."
(bacchicstage.wordpress.com/euripides/medea/)
And the second being, the actress not only overacted but presented Medea as a mad woman, a woman who killed her children not because she wanted to protect them from a life of misery in a xenophobic Athens but simply because she was mad and a witch. It's a very common interpretation but a totally wrong one.
Pericles, one of the prominent men in Athens just a few years before Euripides wrote Medea, decreed that kids, if they are to be admitted into Athenian citizenship must have both parents born in Athens and be Athenian citizens. A new law which intensified the bias and persecution of women and foreigners (then called barbarians).
Medea's kids would therefore be declared and treated as barbarians and their fate quite precarious. This was also a patriarchal society which substantially adds to the possibility of an ominous future for them. Jason's assurances that they would be looked after rang hollow, even to the Corinthian women. The kids, if left in Corinth, would, at the very least be treated abominably. They might have even be killed and a scholiast commenting on the margin of one of the scripts says that in actual myth, Medea left the kids behind and the Corinthians had killed them. One may well spend a few minutes speculating about that.
Euripides wanted to show Athenians that, with this latest law against the foreign woman by Pericles, they have lost their openness, their traditional welcoming nature to the stranger, to the seeker of refuge (Zeus was a protector of the stranger and the refugee) and that such things were inhumane, immoral and destructive, lethally so.
And let's not forget also that the Corinthians would be seething for revenge since she had killed their king and their princess. Those boys would not have an easy time of it.
What was Medea to do under such circumstances?
And isn't the plight of Medea's children the very same plight that children of refugees encounter as their parents climb aboard leaky boats heading for Zeus only knows where?
Exaggerated acting. Wrong take of the character of Medea. Perhaps it's the director's fault.
A stunning work by Euripides, a bizarre work in this film production.
That is incredible to read. I'm no expert at all. I went with what I've read and seen. I wonder what Euripides would say if he could see how misinterpreted Medea is today?
I don't think I've seen any production that truly does justice to Medea. The very few I can find here at CZcams seem to follow a similar pattern. I'm not sure what to make of Maria Callas' version. Have you heard of any production that is more faithful? I'd love to see it.
Thanks for the context. I truly had no idea.
"I have done it because I loathe you more than I love them" Makes me weep. Caldwell is divine
makes you wonder (or realize) just how deeply she loved him once
Just a personal opinion
No matter how you sliced it those boys were going to die whether or not Medea killed them
So Medea just added salt to that open wound
Went into exile for his sake,estranged from family and country.Jason not worth the heavy price.
Shattering. Zoe Caldwell speaks, moves and breathes Medea as if in a fever dream.
i've seen many productions over the years; this is the one that made me FEEL Medeas sorrow and vengeance.
Saw this live, with this cast, when I was in college in the early 80s. Thanks for posting so memorable a performance.
Do you mean this production we’re watching is the exact same production you saw? The same stage? Was there only production? Were they recorded as this was?
@@RoLee705 I don't think the one I saw at the University of Tennessee was taped, but it might have been the same tour. They were traveling around, doing it at colleges all over the country, if I recall correctly. It was almost forty years ago, so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I do remember seeing Mitchell Ryan walking across Kingston Pike in Knoxville later that night, presumably heading for one of the many bars on the Strip. :)
Thanks 😊
Hey
Am I the only one who had the assignment of reading this play, but was too lazy to read it, so just searched it on youtube?
lmao Same.. I don't have time to read the book
why are you here?
Sabrina Bosworth, no. I came here because I wanted to watch a movie version 😂😂😂
This one has very little to do with Euripides' play.
Euripides was a playwright, like Shakespeare his plays should be seen not read. Disclaimer: Obviously reading is good for your butt-cells, so do that too, but you get the idea.
Omg SOO much love- especially to my acting teacher, Ms.Jacqueline Brooks
I had the honor of acting opposite Jacquie who beautifully played my defense attorney in the fact-based CBS drama 'A Death In Canaan' directed by Tony Richardson and in which I played the lead. And she brought so much power, authority and compassion to her role that she made my role easier than it would have been without her representing my unjustly accused character. And what a wonderful person she was! I'll never forget her and only wish I could have seen some of her New York stage work like Sam Shepard's 'Buried Child'. Interestingly, Shepard's wife at the time -- Olan -- played a small supporting role in 'Canaan'. And you were lucky indeed to have had Jacquie as a teacher. I envy you!
In 1967, then Zoe Caldwell was a guest on *The Tonight Show* starring Johnny Carson. The show was taped in NYC; Vicki Lawrence was guest hosting.
Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Lawrence got on wonderfully well; Ms. Caldwell spoke so openly and honestly about once having worked on the packing line in a Melbourne pickle-processing plant. The audience was wholly disarmed and enchanted by their wonderfully grounded, down-to-earth humour and sincerity.
A then 16 year old boy, who had been in the audience, and who had been somehow profoundly mesmerised by something he wouldn't understand for years, found himself standing next to Ms. Caldwell on the lift headed for the ground floor. He found himself speaking with Ms. Caldwell, and despite having a photographic memory, he never could remember what he had very probably gushed.
But what he never *could* forget was Ms. Caldwell's glowing, slightly hooded eyes, and upwards sly smile that so mysteriously and silently spoke volumes of Recognition and Collegiality. And her Wisdom and kindness were so very well placed, and vindicated.
What the fuck is this?
+Andrej Ivanovic ... Just go polish your helmet there, Darth ...
Thomas Cervasio I think your brain needs a bit of polishing, you've gone raving mad.
iconic actress, one of the alltime greats.
'I loathed you more than I loved them'
wow.
🤓
Judith Anderson was so terrific! So captivating in every role, she made a superb Medea herself before Caldwell!
I wonder if Miss Anderson tutored Miss Caldwell in the part.
Euripides has more youtube hits than Aeschylus
This may be my favorite CZcams comment ever! LOL.
maybe so but Aeschylus has more prizes lol
😅
I read through the play, and then watched this. I cant believe how much is shown through acting than just reading through the script. These actors were amazing! I would love to see this live.
Thank you for posting this. I never forgot it from 1983. Zoe Caldwell is beyond incredible.
Damn!!!! I expected Jason to be... younger xD
Every actor was phenomenal. Zoe Caldwell was immensely chilling in this role
This reminds me of a similar tragedy: when one reaches in to grab a chocolate muffin only to realize it is not composed of chocolate chips, but raisins.
pfffft 😂😂😂
Hahahaha!!!
That made me laugh. 😂
I know this post was long ago but I hope you’re no longer nuts 🌰
what a beautiful performance.. I have never been a fan of theater but now I think I am.
This from a review in the Washington Post By Megan Rosenfeld April 20, 1983 True to this day! "Caldwell is still incomparable in her Tony Award-winning performance as the awesomely vengeful Medea. Her intensity, panther-like fury and agonizing heartbreak are those of a woman driven mad by the emotional violence done to her by her husband Jason, who leaves her for a younger woman and then seems surprised that she might be upset. One of the strengths of Caldwell's performance is that her madness is not used as an excuse for her actions, but seems a plausible reaction to her husband's behavior. The grandeur of Medea's agony, and the horror of her revenge, are the cathartic elements of this play, and Caldwell makes the catharsis accessible. Judith Anderson, playing the nurse, is shown to perhaps better advantage in this version than she was on the stage. Her performance is clean and wonderfully simple, and the close-ups of the camera allow her more subtlety."
I have to do one of her monologues for an exam, the woman who plays Medea is fantastic! This helped me so much, thanks for uploading ☺️
Theater is meant to be watched. There's no shame in it.
Haven't seen this since I was 12. Great acting. Stupendous writing.
Thank you so much for uploading this performance; it moved me so much I was literally clinging to a lamp! ❤
Amen to that!!
I found this today and for almost 90 min I didn't move I was so into it
RIP, Zoe Caldwell. Thank you for being my inspiration ever since this production.
Plays are meant to be watched and heard. Instead of reading the text I listened to the audiobook then watched the play. Less time and easier to understand. Prepared for tomorrows exam!
You're just shit at reading
Messylin You fail to see it from the perspective of those who produced the play. They all start out in written form. Obviously they were meant to be performed, but you don't gain a real perspective until you've simply read the lines, and inferred the meaning from it yourself. If you only watch one play, then you've only seen one person's take on it. You could go out and watch 500 different plays, or you could read it yourself and gain your own understanding. It's impossible to realise the writer's true vision, because you would have to be them, or have them explain it to you first hand. Reading it gives you the least skewed view.
Jerry Niggs - I agree with reading it, but not before HEARING it.
I agreed!!! I hate READING plays. It's not the same.
I felt the same. It was like reading the script. Everyone is stone-faced.
My theater culture class has never been so simple. Thanks so much!
Loved this - thanks for posting... The lead WAS great as Medea; delirious, neurotic, vulnerable, pathetic, a lot of different emotions - a broad range actually... ;)
Watching Both Actresses who played Madea...on stage together...is magical
I discovered this movie in my Theatre 101 class. Love it!
I've seen many versions of Medea. IMO Zoe Caldwell's portrayal is the greatest of them all.
Buya have you seen andersons version, its quite remarkable when she first did it before she played nurse in this
Although there is no video of it, the greatest of all women to portray Medea was Maria Callas in the operatic version by Cherubini.
YES ZOE CALDWELL, GIVING ME LIFE!!!!!
great production indeed, one does not stumble upon such piece of art.... not in these days..
To add to the arguments here on whether Medea was excessively vengeful or not, I found compelling arguments offered by Thomas Cahill in his book "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter". Greek "aristocratic" male society at the highest level (Jason) was no place for a foreign-born female desirous of traditional male honor in marriage.
This is truly an amazing performance of this excellent play. Thanks so much for posting it.
“i have subtler means and deadlier cruel” it gives me chills
She was crazy. Well she went crazy with hatred! This actress did such a good job!
+Honestly Kia Yup, a mother who kills her own children is not a mother at all (not implying I'm against abortion as those boys were already living and running around). To an extent, I can understand her grief, but she just reeks of unhealthy obsession over Jason's actions. As they say, 'don't punish the son for the sins of the father.'
All humans made slaves have done the same. Woman has been the greatest slave and injustice in ALL KINGDOMS of men and this is what it looks like to be a slave at the whim of a demon.
fuck off
Medea a slave and a victim? I'm sure if she heard you say that she'd make you spontaneously combust. What a dumb thing to say.
Firstly, I know this was a long time ago but I feel the need to address it. Don't you realize that even if what she did is terrible, it was, in a way, done with love? Imagine it like this, Medea betrayed her country and now home after being betrayed by Jason, but in the process of her getting 'revenge', she created so many enemies that wouldn't just look for Medea, but her children as well. I agree that it was an unhealthy obsession, but if you knew the background, Medea was put over a spell to fall in love with Jason, so when he betrayed her, that love turned into hate, still love, but bad love. Sorry if I might have bothered you, but please consider it this way, as this is also a greek tragedy and shouldn't really have a happy ending.
this is awesome. and this was an amazing performance. 👌 the actors are great
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What an overwhelming actress Zoe Coldwell acted as Medea!! I'm infatuated.
The greatest role in theater performed by the greatest actress ever. Lucky enough to have seen her in this and as callas.
SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCES!!! TRUE TALENT!!!!
Such a powerful character medea is... i'm in Love with this character. .. 😈
This makes me never want to get married
this should make you feel never want to cheat
Senior 02 Exactly
there is an interesting version that says :
medea was either daughter or descendent of hecate , titan goddess of magic
Great Play thanks for uploading!
A masterpiece.Euripides play and this production.
The copywrite exclaimer at the beginning is hysterical. You think Euripides copywrited his plays? That's why we have them to this day. And it's ironic because anybody can watch this on CZcams now
Robinson Jeffers wrote the adaptation. The copyright is his, as it should be.
no its not about the artist, it never is, its about the producers, directors and promoters of the play itself
"You had love once, and betrayed it. Now of all men, you are utterly the most miserable, as I of women."
Chills
Though late I just had to watch this and I love the way the characters bring out the themes in the drama.. our society is depicted here
Saw this production when first aired on PBS (I think it was), but didn't tape it. Has never come out on DVD, and pleasantly surprised to discover it here! Many thanks to Carole Carroll for uploading this on CZcams, and for trying to preserve a piece of theater history. Anyone know what year this was first broadcast?
what a phenomenal performance
But utterly wrong. Medea was not a jerking and shaking mad woman. She was a mighty character, protector, rather than a murderer of her children, protecting them from a life of persecution, if not death. Rather she, their mother kill them and the xenophobic Corinthians, her husband being one of them. If Jason, their father, abandoned them to marry the princess, what hope did they have with the rest of that society? Don't forget also that the Corinthians would be seething for revenge since she had killed their king and their princess. Those boys would not have an easy time of it.
"ANNIHILATION.
the word is pure music."
I think by watching Pasolini's movie one understands who Medea was and what she had to go through to be together with Jason. Her grief and rage become more understandable.
This is great, but I think the most memorable Medea was the late, great Judith Anderson.
I watched a short sequence of J A performance here on YT, but it didn't seem anything special to me. What did you like of her? J A definitely inspired Z C performance, but I feel the gestuality of the former is too artificious.
SunshineInWoods
Judith Anderson had an amazing intensity. It was as is she was actually enraged and suffering. And Aline McMahone gave a superb performance as the nurse.
I agree, but when actors grow old, they are cruelly judged by the audience. Today's Medea is tomorrow's nurse. So what can you do?
God m family situation is so similar to this play. I am just thankful my mother has not killed us yet.
Wait.
well you gotta follow the scripts. I hope that doesn't happen.
I'm playing Medea in the performance my college groups doing... This is so helping me with my performance. Seeing another person perform the character helps me understand it more, and know what I'm doing already is correct I just need a little more work it is gonna help me progress so much.
Break a leg.
1katiemariee Well I hope you enjoyed the process. Your courage in tackling one of the great dramatic roles of all time is commendable. Good luck in the future. Cheers.
That’s why I’m here tooooooo
Hi, thank you for uploading this! I have used it in drama class many times. I was wondering if you would be willing to open it up for community transcription? There are parts where my students struggle to hear what the actors are saying, and I'd like to start adding accurate subtitles to it.
I suspect you can get the Robinson Jeffers Text from the library no?
Kept me from going through the whole damn book. Thanks for saving me hours of trying to understand text, and just watching play out on the screen.
would anybody happen to know where I could get a script of this version? I have found most of the others online but this one as you know does not correlate...
Bravo! Thanks for the upload.
Zoe Caldwell is so amazing in this!
Wow! At 41:42 her eyes are beaming!
I swear I've seen her eyes do that before!
While watching this, I sometimes will imagine it as Madea instead. It's quite a laugh
Two years later, Me too haha
I honestly wanted to see the chariot...
So did I
The great Zoe Caldwell plays Medea here.
my ma saw Judith Anderson's Medea while she was pregnant with her first child. My name is Judith.
Incredible performance
It was part of an assignment for world literature course to watch this video, I was thinking oh my god! 1 hour 27 minutes long video will feel like forever! once I started it, It passed really quick as the performance was great and the story is very interesting, I kept looking forward what is going to happen next.
I would rather watch this play over drama movies. It is my second time to watch a play and I am amazed. It did put me in a sad mood as if it actually happened in real life and I am grieving with them. It is my first time studying world literature and I am enjoying it. Call me a nerd I don't care. LOL
Honestly, I just feel horrible for all concerned. Medea, poor, destroyed creature, went half mad and killed her own children. The poor princess, who did nothing but marry one already taken. Creon, who did not deserve to die so violently. Jason, though vile he may be, who lost what he once loved. And, of course, the poor innocent children, whose only crime was being Jason's seed. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Or love to blackest hatred turned.
Yes!
Who else is watching this because they can't be bothered to read the play? :3
Funky Cold Medea!
"The wine I was pouring for you spilled on my hand..." boi my girl Medea is *savage*
Auto generated captions are surprisingly good
Marvelous actress-
This was very useful for a paper that I am writing. Thank you for sharing.
Magnifique.
Is the old lady opening the play Mrs Danvers from the 1940 Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock?!
Yes- the brilliant Dame Judith Anderson
Wonderful!!! Thx
Whats up Ms. Foley!!! Medea 4 the win #BLS2016 #MythTradition
Can I show this to my drama class?
I’m reading the play in my school... this gives a good visual for my class :)
I don't know about any of you, but I'm pretty much kicking myself why I haven't heard of this story before.
zoe is wonderful in ev thing she does !!!!!
This is simply exquisite…please provide actors' names. Is that Zoe Caldwell as Medea…?
yes it is
damn this is amazing
good acting, made me cry.
I read it, and now watching it....!!!
Made my day!
Spectacular!!!
Che splendida figura..l'estrema magrezza la rende una Medea irresistibile...una donna provata ma superba..
Is this based on the actual play?? I have an assignment due in 2 days and I have to read the story. Would this video do me justice?
Who's here that remembers Star 1993?
hey Good morning thumb up
A WARNING TO ALL WHO ARE LOOKING TO WATCH THIS INSTEAD OF READ IT: This version of Medea is not universal and makes some changes to the original. Just trying to save people some trouble.
great play
Legend
There is a one missing scene of Golden chariot
A witch but not evil. She is not evil, she is complicated and does a horrific act. All those around her mistreat her.
GRACIAS GABI VALLES POR HACERME HINCHA DE MEDEA !!!
Is this the entire play or just the first act?
Entire play
The one lesson from this play:
Bitches be crazy.