Seizoen 2025 / 2026

Medea

Euripides

King Aison of Jolkos is driven from the throne by his aggressive brother Pelias. Together with his wife and young son Jason, he goes into exile and soon dies. When Jason comes of age, he returns to Jolkos and claims the throne. Pelias promises to hand over power, but first Jason must complete a task: he must retrieve the Golden Fleece from Colchis, a mysterious land east of the Black Sea.

Jason has a ship built, the Argo, and recruits the best crew of his time. Among others, Heracles, Peleus, Orpheus and the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux board the Argo.

After many adventures, they arrive in Colchis. However, they do not obtain the Golden Fleece without a fight. Nevertheless, luck smiles on Jason. The king’s daughter Medea falls in love with the handsome Greek and helps him obtain the Fleece and flee Colchis.

She is madly in love, uncompromisingly in love. For Jason, she not only betrays her father and her homeland, she even murders her brother, cutting him into pieces and scattering his limbs across the sea. In this way, she puts her pursuing father at a disadvantage when he tries to fish his son out of the sea. Upon arriving in Jolkos, she murders Jason’s uncle Pelias in a devious manner. Once again, they are forced to flee and end up in Corinth, where they lead a very modest existence as exiles. In the meantime, Medea has given birth to two beautiful sons for Jason.

However, in Corinth, Jason has an affair with Glauke, the daughter of King Creon. He wants to improve his family’s position, he says.