In the original languageTranslation into English

The Perpetual Lamentation of a Rightless Woman

Annotation

The topic under study is the Berliner Ensemble interpretation of Medea by Euripides. The German troupe’s top-notch performance skills, underpinned by the actors’ mastery, allow for discerning a variety of exciting devices in the play, especially since the study is based on the performance’s video recording, among others. What do viewers see when attending the performance in person? What kind of contact do they establish with the actors? And what do they observe when processing the performance in the video? What kind of text have we received from Euripides in the Greek language, and how phrases or words emphasized in the play are “conveyed” in different languages—or even in one language but translated by several translators—to provide a new angle on this particular work by Euripides which remains a cause célèbre to this day—not because Medea, daughter of the king of Colchis, is still persistently stamped as a filicide, but because the issues of relations between women and men, wives and husbands, of the ruler and his abuse of power, of the obligations of parents to their children, and others, as raised in this work, are as relevant today as ever.

Interpretations from the director and the troupe come across as idiosyncratic readings into the given work which—provided that the artists are up to the task in terms of high precision and quality—offer the researcher ample new food for thought: How one keeps what Euripides’ Medea is meant to say while making sure that the performance is modern? What techniques does a creative employ to decipher the text? Is scientific study necessary when staging a classical play? What does a “living performance” mean? What does improvisation bring to the table? How is in the here and now created, and how does this principle work onstage and in the auditorium? 

Keywords

Euripides
Medea
Berliner Ensemble
Thalheimer.

References:

Boldt, E. (2012, April 14). Medea – Michael Thalheimers monströs-großartige Euripides-inszenierung in Frankfurt. nachtkritik.de übersicht. URL: https://nachtkritik.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6802:medea-nmichael-thalheimers-monstoes-grossartige-euripides-inszenierung-in-frankfurt&catid=38:die-nachtkritik&Itemid=40. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Cairns, D. (2014). Medea: Feminism or Misogyny? In D. Stuttard (Ed.), Looking at Medea, Essays and a translation of Euripides’ tragedy (pp. 123-137). Bloomsbury Publishing. URL:  https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/looking-at-medea-9781472530165/. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Euripides. (1960). Biblioteka dramaturga (Playwright’s Library), Euripides. V. V. Golovnya. (Ed.). Moscow: State-Owned Publishing House "Art".

Euripides. (1981). Medeia (P. Krumme, Trans.). Publisher of the Frankfurt authors.

Euripides. (2017). Εὐριπίδης, Μήδεια—ევრიპიდე, მედეა (Euripides, Medea) (N. Tonia, Trans.). R. Gordeziani & K. Nadareishvili (Eds.). Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Tbilisi: Program Logos.

Euripides. (n.d.). Medea. D. Kovacs (Ed.). Perseus Digital Library. URL: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg003.perseus-eng1:663-688. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Hall, J. (n. d.). Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (1974 ed.). New York: Harper & Row. URL: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsubj00hall/page/n5/mode/2up. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Hunter R. (2016, March 7). Symplegades. Oxford Classical Dictionary. URL: https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-6172. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Konstantinou, A. (2012, January 1). "The lioness imagery in Greek tragedy". URL: https://www.academia.edu/6206976/_The_lioness_imagery_in_Greek_tragedy_Quaderni_Urbinati_di_Cultura_Classica_101_2012_125_41?email_work_card=title. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Lev: opisaniye, kharakteristiki i povedeniye (A lion: description, characteristics and behavior). (n.d.). Сайт про животных (Website about animals). URL: https://zverey.ru/mlekopitayushchie/59-lev-opisanie-harakteristiki-i-povedenie.html. Accessed 24 September, 2024.

Looking at Medea: Essays and a translation of Euripides’ tragedy. (2014). D. Stuttard (Ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing.

Lubker F. (1885). Realnyi slovar klassicheskikh drevnostei po Liubkeru (Actual Dictionary of Classical Antiquities based on Lubker). Sankt-Peterburg: Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogics. URL: https://rusneb.ru/catalog/000199_000009_003599381/. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

Medea - Schauspiel Frankfurt (2013) [Video]. (2020, December 1). Accessed 20 September, 2024.YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSIxjuEbe4s&t=2912s. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

Mifi narodov mira (Myths of the Peoples of the World). (1992). S. A. Tokarev (Ed.), Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia.

Mifi narodov mira (Myths of the Peoples of the World). (1991). S. A. Tokarev (Ed.), Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia.

Plutarch. (1916). Pericles. In B. Perrin (Ed.), Lives. URL: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0055%3Achapter%3D38%3Asection%3D4. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

Plutarch. (1994). Sravnitelnie zhisneopisania (The Parallel Lives) (2nd ed.). Moscow: “Science”.

Plutarch. (1916). Pericles. In B. Perrin (Ed.), Liveshttps://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0055%3Achapter%3D38%3Asection%3D4. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

PromoSounds. (n.d.). Rev byka (Bull roar). URL: https://promosounds.ru/zvuki-zhivotnyx/zvuk-byka-rev-byka-mychanie-byka/. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

RomoSounds. (n.d.). Zvuk rychaniya l'vitsy (Lioness roar sound). URL: https://promosounds.ru/zvuki-zhivotnyx/zvuk-lva/. Accessed 22 September, 2024.

Tonia, N. (2017). Medea - berdznuli klasikis egsistentsiis literaturuli sakhe (Medea - a literary image of existence of Greek classics). In R. Gordeziani & K. Nadareishvili (Eds.), Ευριπίδη, Μδεια—ევრიპიდე, მედეა (Euripides, Medea) (N. Tonia, Trans.). Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Tbilisi: Program Logos.

Topuridze, E. (2009). Rcheuli nashromebi msoflio teatris istoriashi (Selected Works from World Theatre History). Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film State University of Georgia. Tbilisi: Centaur.

Yarkho, V. N. (n.d.). “Dramaturgia Evripida i konets antichnoi geroicheskoi tragedii” (Euripides’s Dramaturgy and the End of Ancient Heroic Tragedy). Philology.ru. URL: http://www.philology.ru/literature3/yarkho-99.htm. Accessed 20 September, 2024.

Other articles of the issue

cc-license