The name Medea can conjure up the image of a screaming murderous monster from antiquity. But Euripides brings Medea’s experience uncomfortably close to home. His Medea is a very real woman facing what to her seems an intolerable predicament. She fears she is facing total humiliation, which to her amounts to annihilation. Her solution is extreme but not unheard of in today’s world. We think what she does is overly emotional and irrational, but in fact the appalling deed is the result of the application of strict logic. Maybe this is a timely warning to our world increasingly obsessed, as it is, with algorithms of efficiency and artificial intelligence, just to hang onto our common sense and ordinary decency at all costs. Logic is a good servant but a bad master.
*The seats for the performance are standing and the audience is on the stage itself while the actors play among them.
Declan Donnellan is a renowned theatre director and an artistic director of Cheek by Jowl – international theatre company, which Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod founded in 1981. Its landmark productions, performed in more than 50 countries in the 44 years since the company was founded, have influenced the creation of theatre and the experience of audiences the world over. Actors including Adrian Lester, Tom Hiddleston, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Gwendoline Christie and Matthew Macfadyen all developed their talent working with Cheek by Jowl in their early careers. The company focuses mainly on European classics, with Shakespeare being their leading interest. They also stage French classics like Corneille and Racine, as well as authors like Musset, Chekhov, Pushkin, Ostrovksky, Calderon, Sophocles, Lessing, etc.
International recognition of Cheek by Jowl’s importance includes multiple Laurence Olivier Awards, Golden Lion of Venice for Lifetime Achievement, the Stanislavski International Prize to Declan Donnellan for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of World Theatre, and Orders of the British Empire for both Artistic Directors.
Cheek by Jowl made its first visit to Bulgaria in 1987 with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which was performed in Sofia and Plovdiv. In 1994, their production of As You Like It with Adrian Lester was presented at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, and in 2023 their production of Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca was performed on the Main Stage of the theatre.
Nomination for the National Theatre Award Icarus 2025 in the category Best actress in a leading role for RADINA KARDZHILOVA in the role of Medea
IMPORTANT: On June 12, the performances “Medea” (from 7:00 p.m.) and “Oedipus Rex” (from 9:00 p.m.) will be performed in one evening with a 45-minute break between them, as requested by director Declan Donnellan. Viewers who purchase tickets at the box office for both performances will receive a 20 BGN discount on the regular ticket price for “Oedipus Rex” – from 60 BGN to 40 BGN.
Not recommended for people under 16.
In Bulgarian with English surtitles.
The performance is part of the International Programme of Ivan Vazov National Theatre and is presented together with platform World Theatre in Sofia Platform 2025 as part of their joint initiative #StageWithoutBorders
