Jasmine Silk
In a play that will absolutely not make you want to climb aboard the raft of the Medusa, we look for justice that holds power accountable.
A play that centres on the abuse of power, Aboard the Raft of Medusa uses the horrifying tale of the Medusa shipwreck to have conversations about our complicity in the systems we choose to uphold. Most famous for the painting by Theodore Gericault; the real raft of the Medusa was built when the ship, Medusa, ran aground and there weren’t enough lifeboats. The lower status crew were placed on the raft, initially to be towed, but then cut adrift. Of the 146 onboard only 15 survived the 13 days that they were stranded, and those that did so, did so by horrifying means.
In this play by Haibo Xu (translated by Qi Shi), some creative license is taken with the story, placing the key players; the under-qualified aristocratic captain, Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys (Richard Dannenberg), the crew-member who cut the raft adrift, General Marmel (Xiuyu Zhang), and the judge for Chaumareys’s case, Justice Pinot (Xiuyu Zhang), on a racing carriage they discover cannot be stopped. There, the mysterious Jaqueline, played by Shuyi Alice Wang, can bring them to tribunal.
Xu’s script and Shuxin [Theresa] Si’s direction find the absurdity in both this surreal situation and in the adherence to arbitrary power structures, like the military or the aristocracy, that the characters display as they by turns defer to each other and work against each other. Between comic slaps and buffoonish posh people, this cast and crew find the comedy without undermining the impact of their subject matter. Like on the raft, the more extreme the situation in the carriage becomes the more we see the worst of what they are capable of.
No one comes out unscathed in this long conversation, where only a form of punishment beyond human capabilities seems able to overcome our own unjust systems. I loved the racing, unstoppable, carriage as a counterpart to the raft stranded in the Atlantic; its’ decadent setting lending itself to the snobbish civilities that crack under pressure, quickly revealing the remorseless selfishness beneath. I would, however, also love to see the comedy of the piece expanded, to see more of the almost slapstick/more physical comedy moments, so that there is more contrast in tone to heighten the drama of the story.
The combination of revelatory storytelling in the main plot with more fantastical elements in the beautifully rendered projections was something I would have loved to see expanded. In particular there was a lovely explanation of the Medusa myth at the beginning which I would have loved to see weaved into more of the piece; the overlapping abuses of power, the way history repeats, is so key to the world of the show that I’d like to see the way this myth fits into the history of these stories more fully explored. This is a lot of plot crammed into an hour, so sometimes it can be hard to keep up with, so the multi-disciplinary elements, like the projection, could be expanded to make some moments just that little bit clearer.
I would love to see how this production continues to develop, and the new angles that can be found on this strange scenario and important conversation. The ambition of the show’s world-building can be felt in every moment, and I would be interested to see how they might develop that world further.
This is a thought-provoking hour in a frightening world, where the carriage will never stop and some people might never change; the latter being the most frightening thing of all.
Recommended Drink: Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum. Or a glass. Maybe a glass. Channel your inner old time-y sailor with a rum and coke (pop a bit of lemon in there to avoid scurvy).
Performances of Aboard the Raft of Medusa have now concluded at Voila! Theatre Festival 2025.
Jake Mace
Lamesha Ruddock
