Medea’s Children

About

Medea's Children, the new creation of Milo Rau, is a theatre history in miniature, where children find their voices and reflect on separation, injustice and the power of tragedy.

With Medea’s Children Milo Rau takes a new, deep look at the role of children in theatre. A real criminal case is the starting point: the case of a mother who, in total despair, decides to kill her children and take her own life – but she survives. This modern tragedy is interweaved with the classical tragedy Medea, the most infamous case of relationship conflict and infanticide in Western literature. 

A group of children take this bloody crime case and the perhaps darkest origin narrative of European culture as an opportunity to reflect on themselves: on family history, first love and first encounters with death, on desires for the future and fears of the end of the world that haunts us all. How does a child deal with the divorce of its parents? With injustice, the breaking of friendships, the pressure at school? How do they deal with the radical power of Medea – with tragedy in general? The children, condemned to silence in the classical tragedies, finally have their say this time around.

Medea’s Children: the absurd and blood-drenched tragedies of adult life seen through the eyes of children – a small history of theatre and a school of life as cruel as it is poetic.

WARNING: This show contains scenes that directly or indirectly refer to suicide, infanticide, paedophilia and contains scenes involving fake blood.
Suitable for audience from 16 years.

Cast and creatives

Peter Seynaeve / Lien Wildemeersch, Anna Matthys / Juliette Debackere, Emma Van de Casteele / Ella Brennan, Jade Versluys / Bernice Van Walleghem, Gabriël El Houari / Aiko Benaouisse, Sanne De Waele / Helena Van de Casteele, Vik Neirinck / Elias Maes

Concept & direction: Milo Rau
Dramaturgy: Kaatje De Geest
Set design: ruimtevaarders (Karolien De Schepper, Christophe Engels)
Props design: Joris Soenen
Costume design: Jo De Visscher
Light design: Dennis Diels
Video design: Moritz von Dungern
Sound design: Elia Rediger
Acting coaching: Peter Seynaeve / Lien Wildemeersch
Child guidance: Dirk Crommelinck
Production: NTGent
Coproduction: Wiener Festwochen, La Biennale de Venezia, ITA – Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Tandem – Scène nationale (Arras Douai)