Adaptation/Director: Petra-Janina Schultz. Set/Costume Design: Rike Schimitschek. Choreography: Leila Bakhtali. Director's Assistant: Linus Wirth.
With: Svea Auerbach, Michael Meyer, Ulrike Knospe, Markus Seuß.
Chorus: Michael Csont, Karin Dörpmund, Fabi Heuermann, Anja Hölscher, Larissa Kroll, Sandra Luther, Julia Odermatt, Bettina Renken, Nastja Roeseler, Pia Schreiber, Steph Seumer, Melanie Tröster, Dine Urbons, Doris Wind.
What is the cost of a promise? How much does an oath weigh? How heavy is a word given? The story of Medea and Jason has fascinated over the millennia: a love as great as that of Romeo and Juliet, leading just as much to catastrophe. Woman and man, love and calculation, homeland and being a foreigner, right and wrong, these are the themes of the play, at the beginning of which stands a promise that is broken.
In her homeland of Colchis, Medea helped Jason, protected him, killed for him, and he gave his word to love her and live with her. They flee together to his homeland of Corinth, where they live on the outskirts of society, which does not want to accept Medea, the foreigner, the barbarian, as equal, while they want to welcome Jason, the Greek hero, as one of their own.
Nevertheless, the two of them live there peacefully with their two children for ten years, until Jason marries the daughter of the king without Medea's knowledge in order to ascend socially. This shakes Medea to her core: the man for whom she betrayed and left homeland and family turns so far against her that she is even supposed to be driven out of the land with their children. She publicly negotiates the pain of the broken oath, her disappointment, and her immeasurable rage. She takes the audience with her in her struggle for justice to a point where even her closest confidante can no longer follow her: the murder of her own children to completely destroy Jason.
Euripides seeks to understand his characters, he does not judge, he does not speak guilty, and in this way proves to be impressively current. He passes the question of responsibility on to us and supports it through the presence of a speaking chorus, representing the population of Corinth and thus us, the society. How can we take a stand? How far does the fear of the foreigner drive us, whom do we shut the door on, and whom do we welcome?
THE CHORUS
In the Bremen performances, a chorus of dedicated amateurs is involved. The theater group was formed shortly after the time of Corona and was born out of the idea of overcoming the pandemic-induced distance between theater and audience. The amateur chorus was intended to be open to anyone interested, and the goal from the beginning was to put the chorus on stage in the production of "Medea" in the autumn of 2023 alongside the professionals. Traditionally, in Greek theater, the chorus represents the "Polis," here the society of Corinth.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
