Hour 25 Community Reading
Medea, Euripides
Thursday, July 23 @11:00 a.m. EDT
[Nurse] Would that the Argo had never winged its way to the land of Colchis through the dark-blue Symplegades! Would that the pine trees had never been felled in the glens of Mount Pelion and furnished oars for the hands [5] of the heroes who at Pelias’ command set forth in quest of the Golden Fleece! For then my lady Medea would not have sailed to the towers of Iolcus, her heart smitten with love for Jason, or persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill [10] their father and hence now be inhabiting this land of Corinth, separated from her loved ones and country. At first, to be sure, she had, even in Corinth, a good life with her husband and children, an exile loved by the citizens to whose land she had come, and lending to Jason himself all her support. This it is that most rescues life from trouble, [15] when a woman is not at variance with her husband. But now all is enmity, and love’s bonds are diseased.
Euripides, Medea trans. David Kovacs, via Perseus
So begins Euripides’ Medea, which was first performed before an Athenian audience in 413 BCE.
On July 23 at 11:00 EDT actor, writer, and educator Paul O’Mahony will join members of the Hour 25 community for a fun and informal reading of this ancient drama via video conference.
Our community reading is open to all members of Hour 25, but space is limited due to technical constraints. If you would like to participate, please send a request to hero(@)chs.harvard.edu. Slots for participation will be assigned in the order received. Selected participants will receive further details about the event via email as soon as the list is complete.
Paul O’Mahony is the artistic director of Temple Theatre and has written and performed in their productions UNMYTHABLE, Norsesome and Out of Chaos. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and English Touring Opera and has also toured throughout the United States with Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS). He recently directed Much Ado About Nothing at the University of Wyoming where he was the Eminent Artist-in-residence. Paul studied Classics at Oxford where he won two Cawkwell Prizes and was an Ancient History scholar. Paul has played Pelasgus in the Suppliants (Battersea Arts Centre) and Hippolytus in Hippolytus (Temple Theatre). As a student he played Jason in Medea (in ancient Greek).
Image at top: detail from “Medea” Frederick Sandys [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.