‘Medea’ is a riveting exercise in wrath

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, particularly when the woman has enjoyed power and prestige in her own country and has become persona non grata in her adopted land after a messy divorce.

This was the scenario crafted by the Greek playwright Euripides 431 years before the birth of Christ in his classic tragedy “Medea.”

Dated? One need only glance at the relatively recent Betty Broderick case in San Diego for a modern parallel. Dumped by her husband for a younger woman, Broderick shot both of them to death as they slept.

Golden West College ? whose director, Tom Amen, is intimately acquainted with Greek drama and who staged another such classic, “Oedipus Rex,” a few seasons ago ? has mounted a compelling production of “Medea,” one that is starkly accessible in a modern translation by Robinson Jeffers.

In order for this play to work at peak effectiveness, a powerful and intuitive actress is required for the title character. Golden West has found such a performer in Jill Cary Martin, who succeeds in bringing the essence of Medea into the 21st century with a startling, and often quite eerie, portrayal.

Martin enacts Medea on a number of levels, but two in particular stand out. In the production’s first act, her betrayal by her husband, Jason (he of the Golden Fleece), weighs heavily on her mind and threatens her sanity. In the second act, Martin is guided by cool, calculating reason as she plots her horrific final act, stealthily maintaining the upper hand on a roller coaster of exhilarating and steadily building emotion.

The warrior Jason, who has dropped Medea in favor of the daughter of Corinth’s ruler Creon, is given a rational, measured performance by Tony Zeller, who masks any previously enacted villainy with sugar-coated overtures, offering only a glimpse of the underhanded behavior that has brought the characters to this point in the play.

Tom Mazzone’s Creon is more of a force to be reckoned with, a haughty and wary ruler who, nevertheless, capitulates to Medea’s pleas for one more day of grace to prepare for her departure. While he may possess more petulance than power, Mazzone shows unquestioned authority during his brief stage time.

Two performances in the supporting ranks also impress. Kathleen Fabry offers a poignant account of Medea’s nurse, who can sense foreboding tragedy but is powerless to prevent it. And Eric Bugosh is frighteningly effective as Creon’s slave who delivers the graphic account of Medea’s revenge on two of her rivals.

Victoria Strong and Maria Pullman improvised to combine the characters of the play’s three Corinthian women when the third actress, Laurie Ann Reynolds, was forced to drop out temporarily due to an allergic reaction to a live olive tree on stage. According to Amen, however, “she is feeling quite a bit better, and should be returning to the cast next weekend.”

Bob Goodwin and Jim Thoms play a tutor and ruler, respectively, and Tristan Wenschlag and Brendon Williamson are adorable as the young children of Medea and Jason.

The production plays out against a superbly fashioned setting from Sigrid Hammer Wolf, highlighted by a gigantic front door to Medea’s living quarters. Susan Thomas Babb’s striking costumes and Robert Mumm’s starkly effective lighting designs further elevate the show, as does Scott Steidinger’s ominous and foreboding sound design.

“Medea” is more than ancient Greek tragedy. Amen’s Golden West College production amplifies its robust emotional content and gives us a classic drama that speaks mightily to modern audiences.