Medea and the Argonauts

Chronically Ch(ill) Productions—The Cinematheque

It has been years since I last watched or studied (or read?) Jason and the Argonauts, because I was quite young at the time. I have recollections of fond memories of a story of heroics and intrigue and drama, but couldn’t remember much more.

What we experience in Medea and the Argonauts is the story from Medea’s point of view. A one-woman show which sort of takes the form of a soliloquy as we meet young Medea, before meeting Jason, before being dragged into a plot of death and destruction.

It was shocking to see the story told in this fashion. It is evident to me that I forgot some crucial details of the story itself, and seeing it from her point of view was frightening. The madness that consumed her showed a hollow emptiness with no remorse for her actions. I felt as though Hailley Rhoda allowed us some deeply unsettling insight into the mind of a woman consumed by darkness or fate or interference of the gods who had lost control and in a twisted way, killing the people in her life seemed to be a way that she could try and ensure she could still have what she wanted.

For my own benefit, it may have helped to review the original story so the plot was fresh in my mind. This production reminds me how extremely the same story can change depending who is telling it and how we choose to remember events of the past.

For any fans of the original piece, this would be a great new perspective on the story because it fills in a lot of the gaps left by Jason being our protagonist and hero. Medea is crucial to the plot, and with her as the priority, the story is a lot more frightening than I recall. Thanks for the nightmares, you horrifying scary woman (Medea; not our lovely, captivating actress).

Calantha Jensen