Deaf West Delivers Eloquent ‘Medea’

There’s a natural affinity between the tragic heroine of “Medea” and the theme of alienation that resonates so poignantly in Deaf West Theatre productions.

Medea, the mythical sorceress who betrayed her family and country for the love of Jason, is one of the great outcasts in classical literature. Abandoned by her husband and forced to live amid the fear, mistrust and pity of communities to which she can never belong, her status is not unlike the social fringes occupied by the disabled.

Having made the connection implicitly in the choice of material, Kenneth Albers’ new adaptation of the Euripides drama never feels compelled to hammer home the point--rather, the focus is on faithfully transposing this archetypal story into a different medium.

Compared to recent Deaf West offerings like “Sleuth” and “Of Mice and Men,” staging “Medea” as a signed performance isn’t even a stretch--some kind of translation from the Greek is needed in any case, so why not sign it?

In fact, the physicality and heightened emotional eloquence of sign language often prove better-suited than mere words to the stark extremes of feeling in Greek tragedy.

Linda Bove’s riveting portrayal of the spurned and vengeful Medea quickly banishes any doubts on that score. With pinpoint gestures and burning eyes she evokes the character’s full range--from anguished despair to brilliant cunning to unrepentant delight at her own villainy.

Paul Raci, ideally cast as the scrappy vagrant Lenny in Deaf West’s “Of Mice and Men,” proves a tougher sell as the Greek hero Jason, but he summons up powerful passions in both speech and sign as he confronts the consequences of his own selfishness.

The production forgoes the usual use of audio translation via headsets, instead employing the gray-shrouded chorus to provide the spoken translation for the signing impaired.

* “Medea,” Deaf West Theatre, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive. Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends May 7. $15. (213) 660-4673. Running time: 2 hours.