Simon Stone made a radical adaptation of Euripides’s Greek tragedy about revenge. He turned it into a contemporary play, inspired by the true story of an American doctor who set fire to her own house after a difficult divorce in 1995, killing two of her children. Marieke Heebink won the Theo d’Or for her portrayal of the main character. The play was selected for the National Dutch Theatre Festival in 2015. Medea will be performed in Amsterdam for the fourth consecutive season, surtitled in English from 25 till 31 Augustand on 7 September.
Perhaps there is no woman from Ancient Greece who speaks more to the imagination than Medea. In Stone’s version of the tragedy Medea is called Anna, a successful doctor who is trying to get on with her life after a forced confinement. She is willing to forgive the affair of her husband with a younger woman and to make a new start with him and the children. Soon it turns out that their plans for the future do not correspond. Anna is in danger of losing everything: her husband, her children, her career. She is cornered and sees only one way out.
‘If you want to see something that is as old as the 2,000 years ago when it was written and at the same time as modern as the moment you live in, if you want to connect the history of time and of human existence, then come to the theatre.’ – Simon Stone
English surtitles at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
Toneelgroep Amsterdam provides English surtitles (projected English translation) for all performances in August and year round on Thursday evenings at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. In order to reach Amsterdam’s expat community, foreign visitors and other theatre loving English speakers, TA has opted to make it available for them to view the performances by celebrated Dutch actors with the aid of projected translation. This way, English speakers can experience the multi-layered approach to Dutch theatre in all its facets, while encountering no difficulties as to understanding the Dutch texts.
