Loriel Medynski as Nitetis

 

Loriel Medynski as NitetisNitetis of the Nile by William Maranda

Dates and Venue 17 – 19 October 2008, 8pm | Methodica Acting Studio

Director Ashen Gadjalov

Reviewer Ed Farolan

 

Loriel Medynski narrates the tragedy of princess Nitetis, a pharaoh's daughter, who journeys through puberty, reacting to her first menstruation, and eventually losing her virginity in the desert. At around this time, General Amasis, a general in the pharaoh's army, mounts a coup capturing the Pharaoh and his family. Upon her return to the palace she is forced to witness the beheading of her family and becomes the attention of numerous men wanting her virgin body.

Maranda's narration is interesting, and Medynski, a student of Methodica Acting Studio delivered her one-woman show quite well. She stammered sometimes, as she read and tried to remember her lines. Occasionally, she would sip some wine as she paused to get ready for the next segment of her narration. She would smoke cigarettes, and I noticed that this bothered someone in the audience, as he was trying to fan the smoke away.

The Studio under the directorship of Gadjalov dedicates itself to the training of actors and directors for film and theatre drawing upon the traditions established by Stanislavsky which Lee Strasberg continued in New York. The focus, according to its site, is "on the quality of work rather than on the volume of enrollment."

I spoke to writer and teacher William Maranda who teaches Theatre History at the school and said that he had been teaching there for five years now. He did a number of productions including Raja Edepus, an adaptation of Oedipus Rex staged at the Bali Arts Festival in 2006. In May of this year, his play 8th Land, a play about the last king of Easter Island, was produced by Pi Theatre.

© 2008 Ed Farolan

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