Medea

Hallimasch Komplex

Germany/Austria/Switzerland

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We are not in ancient Corinth, but 1950s’ America. This Medea is neither a stranger nor a cold-blooded avenger, but part of a “normal” family. However, the family idyll is a battleground for love, power and social status. Here we find dazzling perfection, an incestuous sibling relationship, adultery and a relentless downward spiral towards infanticide. In a mixture of drama, choreography and performance, seen as if under a microscope, this adaptation of Medea highlights 20th-century relationships and violence, as well as the mechanisms of appropriation and suppression which were initially hailed as an end to barbarism.

Hallimasch Komplex is a theatre collective that creates art at the intersections of drama, choreography, installation and rhythmic composition. Their performances blur the boundaries between traditional and avant-garde theatre. The regular ensemble team consists of eleven people from the fields of drama, puppet and object theatre, direction, stage, costume, sound design and dramaturgy. Hermetic worlds are conjured up on stage in which the rules that we assume to be fixed are radically changed, making their actual weirdness and individuality clearly palpable.