Medea by Euripides (431 BC)

A play based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed her for another woman. Euripides produced Medea along with the lost plays Philoctetes, Dictys and the satyr play Theristai, winning the third prize (out of three) at the City Dionysia festival for that year.

South African productions

The original play

The original play was first produced in South Africa in English in

Produced by Mme Marie Duret, March-April 1866, Theatre Royal, Cape Town.

The first Afrikaans version of the original text (by **) was done by the Afrikaans-Hollandse Toneelvereniging in Potchefstroom and Ermelo (1907), then in the Opera House, Pretoria, April, on 1908, to an invited audience including the colonial secretary, General J.C. Smuts. Backdrops painted by the artist Frans Oerder.

An Afrikaans translation by Roelf Laubscher was done by PACOFS in 1973 by the SUKOVS Werksteater, directed by Jannie Gildenhuys.

Directed by Dieter Reible, 1981, Baxter Theatre Studio, with Trix Pienaar.

In 1986 the play was designed and directed by John Giese for the Eoan Theatre Group. The cast included Theresa Cloete, Raffaele Sabatini, Veronica Edwards, Neil Stoffberg, Edgar Whitley, Bernadette Stevens, Wendy Ely, Estelle Webster, Shamien Essack, Joseph Mitchell, performed in the Baxter Studio.

In 19** Dieter Reible did an English/Afrikaans(*?) version of the text for CAPAB**?).

An adaptation was staged by Jazzart and Magnet Theatre in The Arena in the Nico Malan Theatre in 1994, directed by Mark Fleishman and Jenny Reznek, with Bo Petersen (Medea) and Kurt Wustmann (Jason). This production went to the Grahamstown Festival in 1995.

A translation into Afrikaans of this text by Arnold Blumer was directed by Marthinus Basson for TEATERteater at Woordfees 2011 and Aardklop 2012, with Coba-Maryn Wilsenach as Medea.

Adaptations of the Medea text

Medea by Franz Grillparzer (1821)

The culminating events of Grillparzer's trilogy of reworked Greek plays, Das goldene Vlies (The Golden Fleece). The theme is the tragedy of the heart's desire, the conflict of the simple happy life with that sinister power, be it genius or ambition, which upsets the equilibrium of life. Medea, her revenge stilled, her children dead, bears the fatal Fleece back to Delphi, while Jason is left to realize the nothingness of human striving and earthly happiness. The end is bitter disillusionment; the only consolation renunciation. Some critics consider Medea Grillparzer's highest achievement.

Produced in South Africa in the 1970s at The Space (Cape Town), adapted and directed by Barney Simon in his directorial debut at The Space, with Yvonne Bryceland, Charles Comyn, Wilson Dunster, Chris Galloway, Joel Maister, Michael Maister, Nomhle Nkonyeni and Jacqui Singer. Music by Mike Dickman, set by John Nankin and costumes by Zsuzsanna Kovacs and Danny Malan.

MedEia by Oscar van Woensel, in collaboration with Kuno Bakker and Manja Topper (1998)

The text presents a fragmented stream of consciousness version of the story. First produced by Dood Paard in 1998.

First performed in South Africa by the Third World Bunfight as a site-specific performance at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2003, designed and directed by Brett Bailey, text direction by Lara Bye, with Faniswa Yisa as Medea, James MaccGregor, Frank Paco, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Indalo Stofile, Namhla Tshuka and Apollo Ntshoko. This site-specific version was repeated in 2005 at the Spier Arts Summer Season (Stellenbosch). Reworked for stage production in the Zurich Theater Spektakel, Theaterfestival Basel, Berliner Festspiele, and 7 Dutch cities including Amsterdam and Rotterdam, as well as the baxter Theatre, Cape Town, in 2012.

Mamma Medea by Tom Lanoye (2001)

Published 2001 by Prometeus.

Using the story of Medea to bring up modern problems (such as migration and man vs. woman), resulting in a modernized version of Medea. His version also aims to analyze ideas such as the love that develops from the initial passion, problems in the marriage, and the "final hour" of the love between Jason and Medea. **

Translated into Afrikaans as Mamma Medea by Antjie Krog, it was done by Marthinus Basson for the Aardklop festival in 2003, with Neels van Jaarsveld, Anthea Thompson, Neels van Jaarsveld, Antoinette Kellermann, Jannie Gagiano,Marthinus Basson, (Director) Woordfees (2003).