Ragne Kabanova|dreamstime.com

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella (adapted by Bill Rauch and Tracy Young) might be a stretch for those who view theatre as entertainment; however, I come to praise the effort, not to bury it. Acknowledging that it is a two-Tylenol experience, it’s worth the headache.

Sorting out three stories played simultaneously on one stage challenges an audience composed of people who are still digesting their dinner. Characters in one play cross plot intersections and join the action in another play. Medea wails in grief for the loss of Jason’s affection and then waltzes off to the ball with Cinderella and her Prince.

It seems that everyone is talking at once, except Cinderella—she sings. Choices must be made. Do we focus on Lady Macbeth stirring her husband to murderous action upstage, or the antics of Cinderella’s sisters downstage, or Medea’s anguish that is about it be visited on her children (darling budding thespians who we worry will spend years in therapy after being dispatched nightly by men with swords).

It’s not so difficult; it’s like attending a party. Focus on the words of the actor in front of you but keep your eyes and ears tuned to who is paired on the couch and what’s being discussed in the kitchen. For example, while Lady Macbeth incites bloodlust in her lord, Cinderella’s lilting song takes a darker twist when she steps over a dead body to get to the ball. By the time she lands the Prince we’re not entirely in her corner. Single minded ambition has a high body count in this play and a chilling effect on how we normally view the pretender to the Prince’s heart.

Notes in the playbill tell us that the director wanted to learn more about theatre (public story telling) that speaks to a cross section of society. Perhaps the play should be titled #Medea #Macbeth #Cinderella. The cross talk these days is deafening. A bon mot barely dropped at a podium in Florida virals across the internet and goes into full production on the world stage. What we’re missing is a Euripides to flesh out the universal themes that unite human experience, a Shakespeare to add wit and wisdom and Rodgers and Hammerstein to take the edge off our pain with a beautiful score.