Medea: The Chorus Diaries Entry No. 9 by Mikyla Jane Durkan

A Brief Encounter – I Am Chorus 

By Mikyla Jane Durkan

Click for spoken poem

 

From far flung exotic lands they came

And drifted into shore

Crosby, Southport , Wirral too

As well as many more

As they met they gathered strength

A groaning greedy beast

Their lilting heads and 16 eyes

Reached out and lunged increased

It grew in strength

with every week

Challenged the strong and

Trampled the meek

And all the while this Unity bloomed

An ever moving flower

A watchable swaying monster with

A strange hypnotic power.

I , an outsider once but now drawn in

My fate post St Luke’s Eve will be banishment to the bin

The cast

Cast aside

But for now…..

I am Chorus

Medea receives a four star review for St Lukes performance! By Natalie J. Romero

The cast and crew are incredibly excited to share Ian D. Hall’s review of our Saturday matinee performance of Medea at St Luke’s Church on Liverpool city centre, better known as The Bombed Out Church.

The day started off sunny and bright, which was the best blessing any one of us could have hoped for, on the day of an outdoor performance! It’s seems Zeus was smiling on us!

After making the short trip down the hill from our head quarters at the Casa on Hope St to our venue, probably looking even more comical than we realised, in full ancient Greek stage dress, we arrived to a packed out space, full of curious audience members, eager for a unique Burjesta show.

Friends and family dotted the pews amidst a sea of unknown theatre enthusiasts who seemed (much to our liking) to be thoroughly absorbed in the two hours traffic of our stage.

Mairi Claire Kennedy stunned as Medea, having switched roles with Mikyla Jane Durkan who took her place in the chorus for the afternoon.

Back in her original casting by the evening performance, Mikyla swayed the audience as the moon conducts the sea, bringing people from swelling laughter to free flowing tears.

All of the cast where highly commended both in review and by audience members who sought to congratulate them personally after the show.

Special mentions go to Callum and Gary, who play Medea’s son’s exquisitely every time, and who never complained once about the chill in the spring air and delivered another excellent performance.

Speaking on behalf of Burjesta, I can say I am very honoured that our rendition of Medea has come to be enjoyed by so many great audiences, and has been considered “a pinnacle” of achievement. We are very proud and thankyou for all your support.

Read Ian’s review for Liverpool Sound and Vision here: http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2015/04/19/medea-theatre-review-st-lukes-church-liverpool/

Medea: The Chorus Diaries, Entry No. 8 by Mairi Claire Kennedy

It has been an amazing journey being part if this project and I truly have created memories that will stay with me forever and always make me smile.

The last week has been especially exciting for me as part of the Chorus as I have also had my chance to do a performance as the part of Medea after taking on the responsibility of understudy.

It speaks extremely highly of Mikyla’s character that not due to illness or unforeseen circumstances did we switch roles- myself playing Medea and Mikyla taking my place in the chorus- but because of Mikyla’s sheer generosity and warm heartedness.

Playing Medea has been an incredible roller coaster from start to finish. Whilst this part is, with good reason, important to every female actor and I’m sure a dream role for most (certainly me), it consumes an intense level of focus and demands long hours of investigating impossibly complex, dark emotions and subjects.

That said, once it reaches performance, if you have done your hard work you can let yourself go and nothing beats the high…

So, matinee over, we were on to the evening performance: I was back with my chorus and the mood was amazing in the Bombed Out Church.

Over the last 4 months all 8 members of the chorus have have had an intense rehearsal shedule! Starting our first few rehearsals with (as I’m sure it’s been previously mentioned) highly awkward body invading space exercises and yes there was touching (all above board… nothing funny). From then on in (although I say it myself) we worked phenomenally well as a team and it is one I am damn proud to be part of.

I hadn’t rehearsed for the chorus since the Casa shows, doing only rehearsals as Medea. However, the chorus, Julian and I all had faith and it wasn’t misplaced. During the evening performance we worked once more as part of that team, seamlessly reacting to each others moods and movements, focusing constantly on the breathing around and within us to know when to speak and move in unison.

Not only has it been a pleasure to work with 7 accomplished and skilled women, I’ve made some seriously awesome mates..

And why else give 4 months of your life to Greek theatre? 😉

I’m so, so sad it’s almost at an end… but it’s not over yet…

Roll on the Unity show this Saturday! 😀

Medea: The Chorus Diaries Entry No. 7 by Natalie J Romero

You may have noticed that this entry is a little over due; I actually realised last night that it couldn’t come at a better time. Medea is moving! Our next performance s will take place at St Luke’s Church, better known as the bombed out church, in Liverpool city centre, at the top of bd st. This has gotten us chorus almost too excited for words. It was our first rehearsal is this historic and atmospheric space yesterday evening where some amazing sights where ours to behold.

The artist in me was actually so excited that it couldn’t be contained and had to steal a moment to capture a proper live action virtual tour of the location:

Click for Video Tour

But this, by far, surpasses the level of excitement that any single member of the chorus could muster on their own:

Click for Choral Emphaticness

There only  seemed to be one person taking the entire experience in so calmly, he appeared to be asleep, as you may have noticed in that little film…

You will notice that this week, the Chorus includes our very own Mikyla Durkan! And that Mairi Claire Kennedy is strangely absent… This is because as Mikyla’s understudy, Mairi has been studying up on the role of Medea and will be making her debut as the vengeful queen at the matinee performance at St Lukes, this Staturday. We couldn’t be happier that talented Mairi is making this jump onto centre stage, and in such an iconic setting; and of course Mikyla is such an awesome chorus member.

The entire experience of rehearsing at St Luke’s was quite surreal, and I’m sure performing for a live audience this weekend will be even more so. There is the sense running right through it that nature is slowly reclaiming it. Despite it’s dramatic and sometimes violent history, the inside ambience is one of calm. Though one eerie feature we all couldn’t help but notice was the wind that gets trapped inside it’s derelict walls and echoes like thunder run away from it’s storm.

Please join us this weekend! Medea at the Bombed Out Church at 2pm and 7pm Saturday 18th April!

Medea: The Chorus Diaries- Entry No. 2 By Maria Hutchinson

“In Athens when the world was younger,
Harmony with the flaxen hair was born…”

It seems a very long time ago that I attended the auditions for this production back in dark and dank December. The two preparatory workshops were arduous yet fun; a crash course in the dynamics of the Ancient Greek chorus.

Unlike the all singing all dancing ensembles that make up modern chorus lines more familiar to a contemporary stage, the ancient Athenian Chorus embodies the moral compass of the plays, a unified voice that both observes and challenges the actions of the protagonist. In this instance, Medea, the iconic woman scorned who enacts a revenge more terrible than any other; the fierce intellect who had irrevocably betrayed her home for the love of Jason, and then when he at last abandons her for a more profitable match, utterly destroys her remaining family for the hate of Jason. Medea reclaims the power that is taken from her in the only avenue that is available to her.

I am immeasurably pleased to be a part of this production. I have been fascinated by the legend of Medea ever since studying the Greek Classics at uni. I always felt that, although undoubtedly guilty of a horrendous act, the character behaves in the only way she can. She is the tragic hero who is manipulated by the gods to further their agenda, then forgotten about when she has served her purpose and left to rot. Although she is by far the most intelligent, skilful and determined of all her peers, she is rendered powerless by virtue of her gender. I think the play, although over two thousand years old, is still highly relevant to today’s audience as it explores themes of gender disparity and discrimination, plus the effects that total alienation can have on a proud person.

Anyway, I’ll try and stop gushing about the play or this entry will run into the thousands of words instead of hundreds.

“If daylight breaks and finds you here,
You die…”

The Chorus was initially written for fifteen male actors; we began with ten women, falling to eight within the first month. Luckily our numbers have remained the same since the initial streamlining and overall attendance has been good. Life commitments means that not everybody has been available to attend each rehearsal and that can complicate matters and slow things down somewhat. In the circumstances, I’m impressed by how much we have achieved and how little grumbles have occurred.

It is a very physically demanding role; extended periods of stretching and holding tension in your body at a slightly different angle than you’re used to, long periods of attentive stillness, being present throughout the two acts. We always start with vigorous physical and vocal warm ups, sharing the lead in the horizontal way that we have worked together from the outset. To be fair, we sometimes skimp on these vital warm ups and so it’s hardly surprising that often we are aching all over. A bug bear of mine though is the tendency to stop after warm ups and spend five or ten mins discussing the format of that session’s rehearsal. Grrrr!

To be a part of the Chorus is to be as a head on the Hydra. We are all individuals yet also part of a unified whole. This aspect is one of the more challenging parts of the role, how to portray a cohesive chorus whilst not succumbing to a monotonous recital of endless dialogue? As amazing as it would be if we were truly speaking with one voice throughout, practically this would require a level of intense rehearsal that is impossible to achieve at a non-professional level. Hopefully we have struck a good balance between unity and uniqueness, passivity and activity, reportage and opinion.

“The one who gave life should be the one to take it.
That is only right…”

Overall, the process of rehearsing Medea has been immensely enjoyable. As a group we all seem to have bonded well, there are no unchecked egos and no fall outs over artistic differences. Considering that we have all committed five months of our lives to this production, and often had to rehearse in freezing conditions, the camaraderie and support has been refreshing. I think that the culture of Burjesta promotes this; Julian is always open to hearing our point of view and, even if it’s wrong for the scene, never belittles an idea or otherwise elevates his own.

Personally, I would prefer a bit more strictness, but that’s just me and my penchant for rules. It’s probable that the relaxed working atmosphere has contributed more to our efficiency when trying out new ideas. At first, when we were given a scene to dramatise, we would spend half the time chatting about it, the other half perfecting the first stanza or two, and the 30 seconds before performing it, agreeing to collectively wing it for the final lines. Luckily now we’ve reversed that trend and now produce workable ideas about fifty percent of the time, (as opposed to a tight dozen lines followed by some intense shuffling!)