by Euripides
Translation: Alexandru Miran

Artistic director: Ion Sapdaru
Scenography: Vioara Bara
Assistant director: Alexandru Rusu
Choreography: Victoria Bucun
Sculptures: Iulian Anghel
Premiere date: March 2001

The Oradea staging of Euripides' tragedy opts for a modern vision, preserving the ancient metric, but including numerous allusions to contemporary life, multiple choreographic elements and even vaudeville accents.

The daughter of the king of Colchis, Medea is the prototype of the woman for whom "to be" means "to love". Out of love for Jason, she disregarded her father's will, violated traditions, killed her younger brother and went to foreign lands, where she was always considered a barbarian. She sacrificed everything for love, but at some point she finds herself removed as a result of vile calculations: in Corinth, King Creon offers Jason his daughter, Glauce, as his wife. Considering this marriage more profitable, Jason accepts; Medea is banished and given one day to leave the city. One day is enough to plan and carry out revenge. Love turns into the most virulent hatred, demonstrating how close the two feelings really are. Killing Jason would not be enough: Medea wants to make him suffer terribly, as she suffered. The murder of King Creon and Glauce is a decisive step towards the earth-shattering decision to kill her children with Jason. The maternal feeling is not annihilated, it watches, but the desire for revenge prevails. Between these two coordinates the heroine's drama is consumed.

The ending of the Oradea production differs substantially from the Greek original: Medea dreams of killing the children, but the assassination remains at this dreamlike level, without becoming a bloody reality.

Distribution:

Medea:  Elvira Platon Rîmbu
Jason:  Romeo Romitan
Creon:  Petre Panait
Announcer:  Sebastian Wolf
A nurse:  Mariana Vasile
Another nurse:  Ileana Iurciuc
Glauce:  Angela Tanko
Absinthe:  Serban Borda
The photographer:  Alexander Rusu
Choir:  Mirela Nita Lupu, Mona Erhan, Simona Nica, Igor Lungu, Pavel Sirghi, Sorin Ciofu, Richard Balint and Oana Cernea, Anca Turcut, Levente Movik
Children:  Igor Lungu jr., Patrik Csokmai, Denise Szabo

Technical director: Florin Popescu
Prompter: Florence Szabo
Lights: Iosif Balogh, Sorin Precup, László Attila Oláh
Sound: Sorin Domide