Medea
SAT May 15 7:30 pm Moravian TheatreEuripides
MEDEA
State Theatre Košice / SK
script and director Michal Vajdička
translation Vojtech Mihálik
stage design Pavol Andraško
costumes Jana Hurtigová
dramatic adviser Dušan Bajin
music Marián Čekovský *
premiere March 27, 2009
* Dosky Awards 2009
Apart from the award for Best Music, the production of Medea at the State Theatre Košice received three other nominations for the prestigious Slovak Dosky 2009 Theatre Awards (Best Direction – Best Actress – Best Stage Design).
characters and cast
Medea, Daughter of Aeëtes, the King of Colchis Dana Košická
Jason, Creon, Herold Michal Soltész
Jason, Creon, Herold Peter Čižmár
Jason, Creon, Herold, Aegeus Stanislav Pitoňák
Head of Choir Henrieta Kecerová
Choir Anna Sakmárová, Mária Ičová, Michaela Sepešiová,
Ivana Feníkova, Jana Vasiľová, Ladislava Maníčková
This season, the artistic staff at State Theatre Košice have decided to focus primarily on powerful dramas featuring female protagonists. Initially, they were suggesting A Doll's House by Ibsen, but finally they decided on producing Medea....
It seems to me that Nora, the protagonist of A Doll's House, is not really understandable from a moral point of view anymore. Her story obviously refers to a certain set of values, but these days, her behaviour would be praised by society rather than scolded and alienated. In contrast to Ibsen's play, the Greek myth does not proceed from moral essence, but from emotional foundations and therefore it is eternal and remains acceptable even in our time. That's what I call a powerful story with a female protagonist...
(a fragment of the first meeting
between the director and dramatic advisor)
Case Medea vs. Jason
In this Košice version, at a theatre where classic ancient drama had never been staged before, the director Michal Vajdička did his best to make the outcome truly interesting. His Medea ranks among the top productions of the current season in putting forth more questions than answers, in its lack of moralizing, in laying focus on defence of all sides of the conflict, but most of all in making space for the free flow of emotions – what more is there to theatre?
Touches and Connections with Medea of Košice
The performance does not attempt to update the story in the least, and the focus on timelessness of the drama is a great success here. Medea is seen as a woman who completely sacrifices herself for a man. She is alone with her youth left behind her back, yet she also plucks the roots of her future. A fate intensive enough to touch even the modern man.
Michal Vajdička (b. 1976) was born in the Slovak town of Martin. In 1999–2004, he studied theatre direction at Bratislava's VŠMU Academy under Peter Mikulík. His MA thesis was a stage adaptation of Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West which won him acclaim at student festivals in Brno and Bratislava. He worked as
a light designer and director in many Slovak theatres (e.g. Košice, Zvolen, Martin, Nitra, Prešov, Mestské divadlo Bratislava, Slovak National Theatre, Aréna Bratislava etc.) and as a guest director at the National Theatre in Brno. In his directorial work, he very often picks Irish drama as his inspiration. His 2005 production of McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane won him three nominations for the Dosky Award and his staging of Portia Coughlan in Nitra (2007) was awarded by two Dosky Awards and appeared at DF 2008. Michal Vajdička ranks among the major talents of contemporary Slovak theatre direction in putting focus on detailed work with actors, psychological credibility and modern theatre expression.