Black Medea (Melbourne)

In this riveting reworking of Euripides' play, Medea is a young indigenous woman who, after leaving her family and desert country behind, finds herself in a loveless partnership with the drunken and violent Jason. When Medea attempts to flee home with their young son, Jason makes her promise that she will never take the child from the house. In a breathtaking act of revenge and sacrifice, Medea killls her young child... the child that was the father's heart.

Enoch is a Koori who has spent most of his career exploring black themes. But in “Black Medea,” first staged by The Sydney Theatre Co.’s experimental Blueprints program in 2000, he eschews the naturalism of his previous works and embraces the poetry of Euripides’ classic.

A SHORT, SHARP HOUR, WESLEY ENOCH’S BOLD ADAPTATION OF EURIPIDES’ CLASSIC PLAY, “BLACK MEDEA,” IS DANGEROUS, ENERGETIC AND PULSING WITH LIFE, AND DEATH.

— Variety