Medea

<p><b>A Student Edition of Euripides' play, which accessibly unpacks Greek tragedy in its social context, issues of translation and adaptation, and performance approaches over the centuries.</b><br><br>Euripides' play <i>Medea </i>was first produced in 431BC and continues to be produced globally to this day. Its power and timeless appeal for audiences rests in its portrait of a woman driven to murder the new wife of the man who abandoned her and to murder her own children. In more recent times, Medea's actions have been taken as a symbol of female power in an otherwise male-dominated society.<br><br>Will Shuler's commentary in this Student Edition looks at the violence of the play - both onstage and off; the original performance conditions; staging challenges, both then and now (including Medea's exit on a dragon); the notion of myth and how Greek tragedians were telling old stories to get new meanings; and how the play has evolved through translation.<br><br>It considers a range of productions up to the present day, including the 2014 National Theatre production directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Helen McCrory; Sophie Okonedo as Medea at the Soho Theatre, London, in 2023; and the 2000 Australian version, <i>Black Medea</i>, which interpreted Medea as an indigenous woman brought to a city by her ambitious husband.</p>