ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates adaptations of Euripides’ Medea, the play bearing the name of the woman who became synonymous with the most murderous and heinous of acts, infanticide. It begins with a brief overview of the extensive traditional body of scholarship which has developed surrounding Euripides’ Medea, and also briefly mentions its performance history before proceeding with a close analysis of Olga Taxidou’s Medea: A World Apart, Heiner Müller’s Medeamaterial and Hotel Medea, presented by Zecora Ura Theatre Network. Initially the author offers her own reading of the original text which does not intend to question the more traditional, well-established approaches to Medea, or attempt to project contemporary theatrical interpretations onto the classical text. It provocatively evidences an inherent radicality, and demonstrates the tradition of the play’s conservative interpretation which is subsequently challenged by the radical re-makings which are then analysed. These re-makings are used as case studies to demonstrate the palimpsestic nature of contemporary theatrical adaptation and its definition as “hypertheatre”, while re-inventing Medea and Medea in contemporary socio-political contexts. With connections to East Germany, Greece and Georgia, but also Brazil and twenty-first century London, these “hyperplays” shed an alternative light on Medea’s murderous act. They approach it as an act of female defiance against oppressive patriarchal authority, an act of self-assertion and a refusal to live in the void between one’s own cultural heritage and that of the dominant colonial power.
