Medea

Overview

On paper, Australian director Simon Stone directs the classics: Thyestes, The Wild Duck, Three Sisters, Yerma. But while the titles remain, he and his actors, through improvisation and deep research, transform canonical plays into searingly immediate works that have taken audiences by storm in London, New York and Europe.

Medea, created for Ivo van Hove’s Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, is one of his most in-demand. Euripides’ tragedy of 430BC was a popular hit in Ancient Greece and, while the predicament of its protagonist has been refracted through the lenses of every age’s prevailing morality, it remains timeless: a brilliant woman sacrifices everything for love of a man but, after bearing two children, finds herself of no further use to him and is expected to accept his choice of a new younger partner. Context: ubiquitous and relatable. Crime: unthinkable and unforgivable, but ever-fascinating.

In this sensational production, a contemporary story, based on that of Debora Green (the American oncologist convicted in 1996 of poisoning her husband with ricin and then killing two of her children in a house fire), is so infused with the distilled essence of the original that it doesn’t just retain, it regains its primal impact.

You will see it with its acclaimed original cast — including award winning Marieke Heebink in an extraordinary performance — direct from Amsterdam in Dutch with subtitles.