Dushina Doobree

My design for Black Medea is based around the theme of Appearance vs. Reality. From the beginning, it is understood that Medea refuses to see Jason for who he really is and prefers to live in an illusion where everything is perfect between them. I therefore created a space that shows how their relationship evolves throughout the play and how it slowly degrades due to the interference of outer influences.

The main element in my design is a wall that separates the stage in two. The wall here realistically represents the front wall of Jason and Medea’s home but metaphorically represents the barrier protecting their relationship. Throughout the play, the use of different light colours and angles reveals how fragile that barrier already was.

The space in front of the wall represents the interior of their house and the space behind it represents the exterior world from which the outer influences would come from.  To enable the actors to easily circulate from the rear part of the stage to the front and vice versa, the wall consists of two types of openings. One is a traditional door which will be used by the people who live in the house and the second type are openings within the wall itself representing cracks in the barrier that would let uninvited people in their lives and cause further damage to their relationship.