Medea

Medea

by Euripides

Director:

Declan Donnellan 

Designer:

Nick Ormerod 

Cast:

Radina Kardzhilova, Velislav Pavlov, Valentin Ganev, Asen Dankov, Yavor Valkanov, Stelian Radev, Vyara Tabakova, Radena Valkanova, Joreta Nikolova, Stafania Koleva, Elena Ivanova, Nadya Keranova, Ana Papadopolu and children Nikola Sarzhev and Petar Sardzhev (doubles Boris Petrishki and Boyan Chelebiev)

Translation from Greek to English:

Lucinda Dawkins

Translation from Greek to Bulgarian:

Dorothea Tabakova

Dramaturgical Consultant and Programme Editor:

Mira Todorova

Movement Director:

Rosen Mihailov

Assistant to the Director:

Rafael Bizev

The name Medea can conjure up the image of a screaming murderous monster from antiquity. But Euripides brings Medea’s experience uncomfortably close to home. His Medea is a very real woman facing what to her seems an intolerable predicament. She fears she is facing total humiliation, which to her amounts to annihilation. Her solution is extreme but not unheard of in today's world. We think what she does is overly emotional and irrational, but in fact the appalling deed is the result of the application of strict logic. Maybe this is a timely warning to our world increasingly obsessed, as it is, with algorithms of efficiency and artificial intelligence, just to hang onto our common sense and ordinary decency at all costs. Logic is a good servant but a bad master.

*The seats for the performance are standing and the audience is on the stage itself while the actors play among them.

Declan Donnellan is a renowned theatre director and an artistic director of Cheek by Jowl -  international theatre company, which Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod founded in 1981. Its landmark productions, performed in more than 50 countries in the 44 years since the company was founded, have influenced the creation of theatre and the experience of audiences the world over. Actors including Adrian Lester, Tom Hiddleston, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Gwendoline Christie and Matthew Macfadyen all developed their talent working with Cheek by Jowl in their early careers. The company focuses mainly on European classics, with  Shakespeare being their leading interest. They also stage French classics like Corneille and Racine, as well as authors like Musset, Chekhov, Pushkin, Ostrovksky, Calderon, Sophocles, Lessing, etc. 

International recognition of Cheek by Jowl’s importance includes multiple Laurence Olivier Awards, Golden Lion of Venice for Lifetime Achievement, the Stanislavski International Prize to Declan Donnellan for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of World Theatre, and Orders of the British Empire for both Artistic Directors.

Cheek by Jowl made its first visit to Bulgaria in 1987 with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which was performed in Sofia and Plovdiv. In 1994, their production of As You Like It with Adrian Lester was presented at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, and in 2023 their production of Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca was performed on the Main Stage of the theatre. 

Second Assistant-Director:

Elena Kostova, Meglena Dimitrova

Set Designer Assistant:

Maria Kuncheva

Costume Designer Assistant:

Tsetska Ivaylova

Translator during rehearsals:

Johanna Marinova

Design of the poster:

Nikolay Dimitrov NAD 

Design of the programme:

Yanina Petrova

Photographer:

Stefan Zdraveski

Preparation process coordinator and Programme Editor:

Pavlina Doublekova

Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Manager:

Anya Kolesnikova

Premiere: 9, 10, 11 and 12 September 2024

*Photos were taken during the rehearsal process of the show.