PERFORMANCES
Si Medea
"The fierce acting skills showcased by the leads, Jenny Logico-Cruz and Alekxandra Toyhacao, really brought us into their world. The sudden shift of happiness to intense anger is just flawless. And the ensemble immersed every audience into the story. "
- EDnything
"Logico-Cruz’s Madiya is eerie and haunting, the shifts subtle enough to make the character’s psychoses believable; the dismay and disgust, sadness and anger carefully imagined and melded together into one woman, still undefined but finally fathomable, and ready to go through the course of unraveling and becoming again and again. [...]You step out of Si Medea believing that it is Madiya’s blood that courses through your veins. That she could be – actually is – you. And you grapple with the range of her anger and cruelty, based on the depth of her convictions and her belief in love."
- Katrina Stuart Santiago, The Manila Times
Photo Credit: Blonski Cruz & Agatha Albano
Si Medea was mounted as an exercise in translation and an experiment in alternating main actors. In this adaptation, the modern English text of Medea was translated into the local language to reflect a Filipino, and in a way more familiar, context to the original core and premise of the Greek narrative. In addition, two main actors alternated as each other’s Medea and Jason. Both wrote separate translations of the dialogues and monologues between the two principal characters in order to create two different interpretations of the same characters, and, ultimately, two alternating dimensions of the play, thereby departing from the traditional rehearsal experience of fitting two different actors into the same mold. Medea is reimagined in two versions: as a fierce and feared priestess in Madiya from pre-colonial Philippines, and as an interrupted young mother in Maida living in contemporary times.
Research and Development Period: January-May 2016
Performance Period: June- July 2016
Venue: The Open Space, Makati, Philippines
Director: Blonski Cruz
Writers: Ian Lomongo, Jenny Logico-Cruz, & Alekxandra Toyhacao
Dramaturge: Jacq Nacu-Garcia
Production Managers: Dyan Tuble & Gaya dela Rosa
Technical Director: Christienne Rodriguez
Scenographers: Blonski Cruz & Jenny Logico-Cruz
Stage Managers: Aliana Encarnacion & Kenneth Mangurit
Technical Consultant: Joey Mendoza
Ensemble:
Jenny Logico-Cruz- Madiya/Jayson
Alekxandra Toyhacao- Yoson/ Maida
Mia Reonal Bolaños- Chorus/ Karon
Diana Aviado- Chorus/ Igayo
Katt Alyssa Beron- Chorus/ Alipin
Maia Puno- Chorus/ Guro/ Umalohokan
Joshua Ryan Nubla- Chorus/ Bata
Director's Note
Adaptation Notes
