A Medea Like So Many Others by Lia Karavia

This Play is the copyright of the Author and may not be performed, copied or sold without the Author's prior consent

ACT ONE Scene One

Outdoor space. Medea (40ish)is sitting on a bench in the middle of
the stage; Jason (late 40s) is sitting on the ground at some distance
from her.

MEDEA (Laughing). Strange name!

JASON Not strange in my country.

MEDEA Jay?

JASON Son.

MEDEA Son?

JASON Put them together. Jason.

MEDEA Jayson. (She laughs). Strange, but nice. Musical.

JASON (Laughing). I never thought of my name as musical.

MEDEA Well, it is. Jay-son. The son of a bird, the jay.

JASON (Laughing). Jays are not musical! They screech and squawk.

MEDEA Not always.

JASON (Smiling). I suppose males sing when they court females.

MEDEA I guess they do, to lure them. Then, females go very quiet,
not to give away their nests when they hatch eggs and have babies.

JASON Motherly instinct. (Long silence). What about you?

MEDEA (Surprised). What? What about me?

JASON No motherly feelings?

MEDEA I don't know. All I know is daughterly feelings. My aging
father depends on my care. He has needed me for long years, after my
mother died. I know it is my duty to stand by him. It is also my
desire.

JASON Till when?

MEDEA (Very serious). Till the end.

JASON You may be fifty by that time.

MEDEA (Gloomy). So?

JASON No time for motherly feelings then.

MEDEA Never mind.

JASON But I do! You are a beautiful woman

MEDEA No!

JASON More than that. You are a beautiful creature.

MEDEA With wrinkles.

JASON Beauty cannot be marred by some lines on the face.

MEDEA (Obstinately). Wrinkles!

JASON (Ignoring that). Your foremost duty is to live your own
life.

MEDEA Says who? (Jason stands up and approaches her).

JASON Says I. Where I come from, one's foremost duty is

MEDEA Different priorities where you come from. There, perhaps a
daughter may leave a parent unaided in his old days.

[end of extract]

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