Medea at the Mercadante theater in Naples [Review]

Gabriele Lavia brings to Mercadante his version of the famous tragedy "Medea", revisited in a modern and current key.

An essential representation in which everything, from the scenography to the costumes, Spartans in colors and shapes, become the perfect frame to enhance the show. IS Federica Di Martino to interpret one Medea ferocious and feral, wounded to the point of reaching the brink of insanity.

But his is a lucid and implacable madness and as a victim he soon turns into an executioner. The guilty party is guilty of the despair of the woman Jason (interpreted by Daniele Pecci) that in his profound egoism results blind to the evolution of the situation that will be revealed to him finally in all its drama.

The result is a work imbued in a constant growing tension, which marks the descent into the madness of Medea. The public is completely absorbed by the story and, like the choir and the nurse, impotent in the face of the degeneration of the situation.

This ancient tragedy, covered in this new modern key, brings to the forefront of current issues such as the fear of the stranger and the role of women in society.

The one in play on stage is almost a reversal of the main roles because the hero Jason, is ultimately diminished because of his meanness and arrogance while Medea, weak and desperate, will prove to be a strong character in his madness, coming with his pain and his desire for revenge against an act against nature.

Although with a terrible gesture, the protagonist succeeds, in the end, to become mistress of his crazy destiny and to make sure that this is no longer decided by the men to whom he has subjected himself for his whole life.

A show that leaves a bitter taste but with many food for thought. Because history, in its actuality, can only make us think of the great steps, even if often too small, that has made humanity on certain issues.