Li Lyn Wong

Black Medea is an evocative story that addresses confronting and taboo universal topics such as domestic violence and exploitation of sacred indigenous sites. 4 themes: desolation, spiteful grief, exploitation (of love and nature) and omnipotent nature to address the relationship between Jason and Medea, their child and nature that binds their existence.

The relationship between the audience, casts and the set are intricately woven together to present an immersive story world. Inspired by the intensity of negative emotions felt through a photograph of a sandcastle surrounded by crashing waves, the set design for Black Medea has an audience of 20 surrounded by white organzas with wave-like details. The set design dynamically evolves following the development of the plot, subtracting and revealing elements of the set with the use of lighting design to create scenic changes such as the sea and an endless horizon of desert skyline and mirrors to create infinity spaces.

Two scenes were chosen to show the pivotal changes of the set. From an intimate but suffocating tent-like atmosphere to the aftermath of emptiness and destruction, the audience is met with a sudden whiplash as they are no longer experiencing the story as an outsider but rather as a witness.