INTERVIEW: New show investigates the legend of Medusa
Photo: Medusa Volution stars Gabrielle Young and plays through Feb. 24 in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of Caroline Mardok / Mardok Studio (www.carolinemardok.com) / Provided by Kampfire PR with permission.
Medusa Volution, a new show from writer-director Sophie Amieva, takes a creative look at the mythological figure of Medusa, who often is depicted as a monster with snakes in place of her hair. The performance piece, which features Butoh dance choreography by Vangeline, continues through Feb. 24 at happylucky no. 1 in Brooklyn, New York.
Media Volution uses dance, music and a theatrical trial to investigate not only the title character, but also Salome, Eve and others. Samieva Theater, which is producing the run of shows, wants to redefine the stories of these well-known figures.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Amieva about Medusa Volution. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audience members expect from Medusa Volution?
I always try to build work that creates visceral experiences and transports the audience in a way that allows them to make connections in new ways. This piece explores the connection between ancient mythological female archetypes (Medusa and others) and the power and agency of women in contemporary society.
Our Medusa is told by a chorus of women who take on the roles of the female archetypes of myth, legend and religious origin — the monster, the virgin, the temptress, the prostitute, the huntress. Through the chorus we tell stories of Salome, Eve and others, and we conduct a ‘Trial of Medusa,’ that presents an impassioned defense of Medusa, although Medusa cannot prevail because the rules only protect virginity, not justice.
These archetypal stories are woven together with vignettes telling the stories of modern women, as they struggle to fit into and break free from these casts. The women of the chorus experience the suppression of their power and the suffocation of their sexual pleasure. But they also redefine the stories of the power, agency and sexual pleasure of women, and reveal their support of each other, and their complicity. Through these every-women, we seek to transcend the prison of our archetypes.
Was the development process very collaborative?
Yes, The Medusa Project consists of a core group of contributors and artists assembled organically through their connection with me. The gallery owner of happylucky no. 1 introduced me to visual artist and architect Katerina Marcelja who has helped me physically conceive of the world of the play.
[Suzanne] Bagert, my co-writer and friend, is a lawyer by profession. Through our many dynamic discussions I realized that she could be a strong writing partner. She helped me write Medusa’s trial as if she had to plead her cause in the front of the court, and we took it from there. The trial became a real scene, and even the structure of the play, the frame of work. This has been a great collaboration — so much unexpected chemistry between an artist and a lawyer! Susu also helps me translate my work from French to English, which is something fun to discuss: the choices and values of words.
The process is pretty organic in the sense that we are working in the same direction with the same sense of integrity and search for truth. The play doesn’t have a linear or classic narrative, so we can work collectively or separately on different pieces. Then we reconstitute the puzzle and solve any structural problems in rehearsal.
Last year’s workshop centered on the tension between the myth of Medusa and the modern stories her spirit is embedded in. This year the challenge was to add the historical layer to support the stories. Also, everybody has been a lot angrier this time around, so we generated more material! We have grown as artists inside this work — this iteration feels more mature, and covers larger and deeper ground.
What are some of the themes you hope audience members pick up on while watching the show?
Surfacing how deeply ingrained it is in western culture to vilify women for their own victimization is key. While rape culture may be a relatively new term, it has been part of our narrative since ancient times. Making that visible, acknowledging and accepting that this is who we are, and the platform our stories hang on is absolutely a step towards changing it.
In a way, the use of Butoh in the piece is directly related to this. Butoh becomes the expression and the way out. Ultimately it is a way forward to a higher level. Like in Butoh we have to tame the dragon and conduct our energy to calm it, to channel it, to dance and access a new level of control. We all have a dragon in us to tame. To ignore or suppress it will not control it or create a structure to make space for it. You have to let go of denying it and, instead, accept the dragon.
Here, Butoh is the inner story of the monster. We are going inward to find the dragon and breaking the chains of social construct to see what is left.
How does the show speak to 2019 and recent news involving the #MeToo movement?
We know Medusa as the snake-haired monster who turned men to stone, but the details of how she got there are often glossed over. Before she was a monster, Medusa was a beautiful maiden and priestess. Poseidon raped her. As punishment for having been raped, Athena turned Medusa into a monster.
Mythology, like any story, was fabricated. That fabrication almost always favors those in power at the time. It is crucial to put the stories of Medusa in their historical context to show that violence against women is part of our cultural history, and it informs our culture today.
It is important to understand rape culture, to see its pattern. Last year, the #metoo movement emerged during rehearsals, which was validating and almost overwhelming for us at the time. I mean Medusa is in the news everyday, take for example this fall with the televised testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford.
Did you have to conduct research into the ancient stories of Medusa?
Absolutely. Even as a child Medusa held fascination for me, but the show is inspired by a more recent encounter. While reading Greek mythology story books to my young daughters, we came across the Medusa story, and I felt incredibly disturbed telling it.
Reading the story to my daughters felt deeply wrong. What was I doing passing on old patriarchal point of views without any critical arguments to protect them? From that point I began by researching mythology, revisiting art history and investigating the role of women. That started three years ago.
Mythology and folk tales have always inspired me. I have read many: of course the Greeks, and also 1001 Nights, the Arthurian cycle and others, quite patriarcal actually. But I believe The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago is an amazing piece of art, and the book that accompanies it is a treasure of mythology and history. In researching this show, the work of Marija Gimbutas, Merlin Stone, Riane Ensler and Gerda Lerner have been instrumental to my latest work.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Medusa Volution, written by Sophie Amieva and Suzanne Bagert, continues through Feb. 24 at happylucky no.1 in Brooklyn, New York. Butoh choreography by Vangeline. Click here for more information and tickets.
