medEia
I will not hesitate to follow
wherever this anger leads, you can be sure
I will loathe the revenge I take but
now I hate myself because I was concerned
for the good of a faithless husband.
Let that be in the care of the god who prods me;
I do not know for certain what is in my soul
Ovid
medeia the granddaughter of the sun
medeia the sorceress
medeia the witch
medeia the poisoner
medeia the amorous
medeia the cheated
medeia the vengeful
medeia the stranger
medeia the murderess
medeia the pitiful
medeia the mother
medeia the lover
medeia the traitor
medeia the fugitive
medeia the exile
medeia the princess
medeia the legend
medeia the barbarian
medeia the irresistible
medeia the desperate
medeia the arsonist
medeia the doubted
medeia the bold
medeia the fearsome
medEia is a contemporary version of the Medea myth and deals about love and its many truths and lies. The text of medEia is not an adaptation but a newly composed text, written by Oscar van Woensel in close collaboration with Kuno Bakker and Manja Topper. The play is written in very simple English, a form of broken English, what Dood Paard calls Euro-English. It is similar to the kind of English used by people from different countries who are not native English speakers but who have English as the best common language. But the language Dood Paard uses in medEia is more poetic than this and the text is interlaced with lyrics of American and English pop songs. These lyrics are, like Greek mythology, part of our collective memory. The point of departure of the text is the `life of Medea´ as derived from the different versions of the story centered on her person - from Euripides to Pasolini, from Seneca to Müller. The story is told from the perspective of the chorus; the chorus as a permanent witness to the dramatic proceedings but unable to intervene in the tragedy. Is this impotence, tragic destiny or unwillingness?
medEia opened in the spring of 1998 in the Toneelschuur in Haarlem followed by a tour through the Netherlands and Belgium. The production was selected for the Rotterdamse Schouwburg 1998 `De keuze van de Schouwburg´ and was also staged during the International Festival for Dance and Theatre Mladi Levi in Ljubljana 1999. In February 2000 there were four performances in Bergen, Norway, on the occasion of Bergen Cultural Capital City 2000. In January 2003 medEia was performed at the Dublin Theatre Symposium. In October 2003 medEia was to be seen in Vienna and Belgrade and in November 2004 it was presented in the Festival d'Automne in Paris. In February 2006 medEia was performed in Arhus, Denmark at theatre Entre-Scenen.
In 2007 the performance toured the USA (Spoleto Festival Charleston CS, North Adams, Los Angeles, New York and Miami) and was also performed at the Melbourne Arts Festival, Australia. In France, medEia was performed in Creteil and Toulouse, in 2007, and in Dunkirk in 2008.
with Kuno Bakker, Gillis Biesheuvel, Manja Topper
technician René Rood
made by Kuno Bakker, Oscar van Woensel, Manja Topper, Iwan Van Vlierberghe, Anne Karin Ten Bosch
management Marten Oosthoek
publicity and education Dirkje Houtman
medEia is an English-language production
This production has been made possible by a grant from the Amsterdam Arts Council
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