Did she or didn't she? As the recent Casey Anthony trial demonstrated, questions of filicide still capture our collective attention. In Medea + Jason: Rubicon Waltz, playing at the Bryant Lake Bowl, playwright Matthew A. Everett (aka the Twin Cities Daily Planet's Single White Fringe Geek) navigates Euripides' tale of Medea. Everett humorously explores this "messy, supernatural business" from the differing perspectives of each player. Unreliable narrators all, each character insists on their own point of view. "This is the story..." they insist.
Joy Dolo, regal in the title role, passionately states her case. She makes you believe in her version of the story. And Zachariah Delventhal as Jason convinces the audience that he is a callow young hero. Hera, Queen of the Gods, (Laura Wiebers) playfully reminds us at every point of time that she is indeed, Hera, Queen of the Gods. And the Oracle (Victoria Pyan), with the voice of Sesame Street's Prairie Dawn high on ethylene fumes, calls it as she sees it. These light character touches balance the carnage and the violence of the story.
The show often shifts to a video to explain the unseen adventures that propel the story forward. (It is a Greek tragedy after all. If all of the plot points were shown, it would be a six hour cycle). While this expository information is helpful, the shifts back and forth to the animated are often abrupt.
As the characters make intertwining choices the show feels like a witty adult dark Choose Your Own (Ancient Greek Tragedy) Adventure.
