Raging Bening

When I think of Annette Bening, I immediately think of the scene in American Beauty when she fails to sell the house she spent the entire day cleaning and can only vent her frustration in one glorious, eardrum-banging yell.  For some reason, that image of her as the wild, caged animal, tragically imprisoned by the world around her, is so strong that I can’t even imagine another actress attempting to portray that type of rage.

This might have been the same thought that went through the head of European auteur/director Lenka Udovicki as she was casting UCLA Live’s most recent production, a reworking of Euripides’ Medea, which stars Bening and runs until October 18th.  After all, who else but her (and maybe Meryl Streep) could portray one of the most enigmatic, fierce, and enchanting female figures in dramatic history—the woman who willfully and consciously murders her own father and two children in the name of personal freedom?  To me, it was a perfect choice, and Bening more than fulfills expectation.

For the first five minutes of the show, she’s curiously absent from sight; it’s just her voice; that same symphonic, American Beauty wail that rings in the background as if announcing her ensuing entrance.  And from the moment she steps on stage, she commands your attention.  She owns every last syllable, evincing the meaning behind even the more difficult bits of Classical dialogue.  As the play progresses, we see Bening transform from the desperate, jilted wife of Jason, to the manipulative conspirator of marital vengeance, and finally, to the woman beyond words, the murderess of her own offspring.

It’s definitely not a one-woman show.  Angus Macfadyen gives a nuanced performance as Jason, and Mary Lou Rosato, as the play’s quirky narrator knows how to hold the stage.  But there’s a reason the play is named after Medea and Medea alone.  Because she, like Annette Bening, is one of a kind.

UCLA Live’s Medea runs through October 18th at the Freud Playhouse.  Please visit uclalive.org or call (310) 825-2101 for more information.