Greek epics are full of upheavals, but White Box Theater has been completely overhauled for Probationary Theatre’s production of Liz Lochead’s “Medea.”

The stage has been moved to a different side of the theater from which it pushes out into the audience.

“That’s the one thing that theater has over film,” said director Robbie Quinn. “We don’t have a screen in the way, so we can get the actors as close to the audience as possible.”

“The space has presented problems, but it has created an incredible amount of opportunities as well, for creating nice visual pictures and helping with the storytelling.”

The play is a modern retelling of the Greek epic tale of Medea, a foreigner whose place in society is threatened and takes revenge after her husband betrays her. 

The staging challenges and modern approach of the play were among the draws for Probationary Theatre’s technical director Liam Mitchinson, who also acts in the play.

“The exciting thing for me is that it’s so different. We do so many shows that are based on the acting style that you can see on TV or in a movie,” he said.

“It would be impossible to recreate what we are doing on television. I think that makes theater a lot more visceral for people. I expect people to react quite strongly to what’s going on in the show.”

The play employs the Greek tradition of the chorus but does so in a visual way, making shapes with their bodies and shadows. They are introduced by original music by Ed Wright, who will play live.

Costumes are also unconventional, using an odd mix of time periods to make certain characters stand out.

“One thing is that Medea is a foreigner. So we’ve had to look at how to highlight the fact that she is a foreigner,” said Quinn. “And the men are in more modern dress but we’ve had costumes made for the women so there is good delineation between the sexes and between Medea and the other characters.”

Meanwhile Lochead’s script is a more lyrical take than more academic translations.

“She’s looked at the translations, ripped them apart and put them back together again with her own style,” said Quinn. “The whole thing is like a piece of poetry.”

The script is written in Scottish dialect and the cast have used a voice coach to help them with it. Quinn said that it was a challenging piece, even without the dialogue, but he did not think it would be harder to follow than Shakespeare.

“There are a few words that are Scottish-centric, but in communication the words are only 5 percent,” he said. “I think the actors can show off and give an idea about what they mean and it’s a very rich language. She’s obviously sat down and been at pains to choose exactly the right words.”

“Medea” plays on Friday at 9 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are 15,000 won.

More information and bookings are available online at www.probationarytheatre.com.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)