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Published in Contemporary Indigenous Plays
Black Medea is Wesley Enoch’s richly poetic adaptation of Euripides’ Medea. Blending the cultures of Ancient Greek and Indigenous storytelling, Enoch weaves a commentary on contemporary Aboriginal experience.
"A visceral impact and lasting, disturbing imagery."
- Sydney Morning Herald
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Female | Unspecified | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 61
EXTRACT: I am not frightened of you. I have faced everything I fear and defeated it. You think you are a match for me? The day has finally come... and today... I will vanquish you. Today... Jason and I will no longer run. And you will feel the sharpened edge of a mother's love and a wife's loyalty. I can feel you, I can hear you coming. I am ready for you. Hear me... I am ready for you. Come out and face me. Face me!
Gender Unspecified | Unspecified | 3 to 5 minutes
Starts on page 65
EXTRACT: It's like that story that gets whispered in the corner 'cause no one wants to come out with it and say, 'Things have got to change'. No one wants to say, 'The grog's got to stop, the violence has got to stop, what we do to this country has got to stop'. Like being a warrior means being angry. But maybe being a warrior means being strong, knowing right from wrong and doing something about it. But tonight you're witness, judge and jury... and we are the storytellers. It's one person's story but somehow it's about everyone.
Adult languageMale | Unspecified | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 75
EXTRACT: I'm staring into the back of my father's head and I look up. The sun's burning the back of my eyes... I look back down... and I see my father's face... He's now facing me... there's anger in his eyes... I turn around to face the other direction and see the empty alley stretching out to the horizon and I realise I have to lead the line... I have to take the first step in the new direction but I can't...
Female | 40s | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 21
EXTRACT: Give me a hair and a fingernail and I will curse you, Jason. Something with your sweat and I will curse you. Everything you have done to me, come back to haunt you ten times bigger. I want you to feel empty. The kind of emptiness I feel without you. I want you to wake up every morning and feel a part of you is missing. I want you to search and everywhere you look to see me… whenever you close your eyes to see me. Let the spirits hear me curse… let everything you love hurt you.
The Greenroom's Kate Foy talks with Wesley Enoch following his first twelve months at the helm of Qeensland Theatre Company.
The preparation of this document was commissioned by Drama Australia to foster access and participation in learning, taking in the broader context of Indigenous educational perspectives and redefining their relevance in the study of Contemporary Indigenou
“Somehow it’s about all of usâ€: Black Medea's White Taboo - "Wesley Enoch’s adaptation of the Euripides tragedy was performed at Belvoir St earlier this year. The author’s comment on the production and also examine the way other reviewers responded to the play."
As Currency Press' featured author for August 2007, Wesley Enoch talks about 'The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table', opening at Griffin Theatre that month.
"Enoch's production is unapologetically theatrical. As Medea, Margaret Harvey is skin-tighteningly compelling; the force of her curse literally gave me goosebumps."
"The story of an Aboriginal woman from the desert coming to the city and coping with seeing her love slip away is so potent for Indigenous Australians."
"Wesley Enoch's appropriation of Euripides' searing tragedy Medea as a vehicle to convey the contemporary tragedy of Aboriginal dispossession is an ambitious move that seems fully justified in terms of the scale of the problems he reveals."
'Black Medea' features in a double bill, presented by Toronto's Obsidian Theatre, reviewed by John Coulburn.
An academic essay reviewing Wesley Enoch's production of Black Medea and comparing it to the original play of Euripides' Medea.
"It's not just the telling of Euripides' tale, it's the telling of an indigenous experience."
"Writer-director Wesley Enoch’s Black Medea is an uncompromising account of tensions between urban and traditional Indigenous cultures, represented by a woman caught between the two."
"My own writing is a natural extension of my relationship with the work on the floor. I’m more of a director than a writer."
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