Ishan Vivekanantham

Black Medea, written by Wesley Enoch, tells the story of Medea who is torn between two worlds, one being the desert, while the other is the city. The conflict of the play centres around Medea attempting to leave her homeland through betraying her heritage and family. However, the further she distances herself from her land, the more her greatest fear of her son following in the footsteps of her husband, Jason, is realised. Medea exists in this limbo-like space where she does not know where she belongs between these two settings.

The set is an apartment turned on its side with gravity acting downwards, and not an aerial view into the space. The warmth and safety of a home is recontextualised as a treacherous and unpredictable environment, highlighting the tension within the family dynamic. Both environments of the city and the desert are present in the set, as the upstage portion of the set represents the darker and colder city, while the empty downstage portion is a blank canvas for flashbacks and dream sequences to occur within the desert setting. The placement of the figures within the set represents the strength of their connection to the city or the desert, with the empty middle section of the set representing the limbo-like space where Medea is fighting to leave.