Answers

  1. distressing / harrowing

  2. first / dawning

  3. explosively / volcanically

  4. worked together / collaborated

  5. focuses / homes in

  6. idea / concept

  7. combines / integrates

  8. soaks / saturates

  9. little / scant

  10. brought to life / incarnated

  11. torturing / lacerating

  12. sarcastic / mordant

  13. trite / banal

  14. substitute /proxy

  15. lust / prurience

  16. confused / befuddled

  17. believably / cogently

  18. hopeless / abject

  19. fulfillment / fruition

  20. frustrated / thwarted

Questions:

1. Is this review of the Abbey Theater production of Medea positive or negative? Find sentences/phrases from the text which support your answer. "doesn't disappoint" (4) "brilliant Fiona Shaw" (6) "thrilling" (19) "essential ticket of the theater season" (39) "miracle of this "Medea" (42)

2. Which sentence suggests that this production had an action-packed pacing? "a state of breathlessness that never really lets up" (70) "radiates such high theatrical energy" "grinning" (73)

3. How does the director reinterpret the original play to make it relevant to modern audiences? Give examples. "half-finished courtyard littered with children's toys and cinder blocks" (65) "nurse...as a student au pair type" (75) "feverish look of fans addicted to real-life soap operas" (88)

4. How does the writer describe the experience of the audience members? "a visitor who showed up at just the wrong moment" (83)

5. How does Ms. Shaw's Medea differ from previous interpretations of the role? "little in common with the majestically angry sorceress" (50) "scant evidence of the commanding icy intellect" (55) "one of the most human Medeas ever...refused to simplify her." (155)