Medea’s Children

We are still very Christian in our understanding

of a ritual, but the Greek ritual is not meant

to do anything besides connecting people.

M.R.

An undisputedly political director whose work has already offered Greek audiences compelling proof of his remarkable artistry, Milo Rau visits the festival for the third time with Medea’s Children. The daring production engages directly with the heart of Euripides’ tragedy, not to revive it but to probe the boundaries of what can be seen and endured. Against the backdrop of the murder of five children in Belgium by their mother and her failed suicide attempt – which is intertwined with the story of Medea – Rau forges a theatrical incident in which myth and unadorned reality illuminate one another.

The action begins disruptively, after the murders have taken place, with a discussion onstage. Actor and facilitator Peter Seynaeve engages the young performers in a conversation about theatre, tragedy, family bonds, love, jealousy, trauma, and death. While the conventions of ancient tragedy usually keep both children and acts of violence offstage, here, both are brought into full view. The children are no longer unseen presences behind walls; they materialise on stage, speak, and look us directly in the eye. Renowned for his politically charged and realist documentary theatre, Rau does not shy away from the raw face of violence and insists that imagining and witnessing are fundamentally different experiences. Through the use of live cameras, large-scale projections, and pre-recorded scenes, the stage becomes a laboratory of representation and doubt, where the children assume roles as witnesses, mythic figures, and carriers of a foretold crime.

Tender and merciless in equal measure, Medea’s Children serves as a bold reminder of theatre as a collective deed; a ritual that does not “promise redemption” but initiates spaces for connection. Medea is portrayed neither as a monster nor a victim, but as a figure who refuses to be confined by facile judgments.

Concluding his dialogue with Greek tragedy, Rau delivers one of the most essential works of this ongoing conversation, a performance that dives knee deep in horror and loss while seeking to reclaim the future.