Play preview: Jagriti Theatre’s retelling of ‘Medea’ explores themes of exile and identity

Jagriti Theatre in Bengaluru is producing a reinterpretation of the fifth century play, Medea, with Rebecca Spurgeon as its director and Kirtana Kumar as its sole actor

Euripides’ Medea, written in the fifth century BC, is primarily seen as a story of betrayal and vengeance. Love, magic, and fury collide in this timeless tragedy, which has stayed relevant for centuries since its creation.

Jagriti Theatre in Bengaluru is producing a reinterpretation of this play, which features Rebecca Spurgeon as its director and Kirtana Kumar as its sole actor. This version of Medea confronts the depths of despair, the searing pain of betrayal, and the lengths a woman will go to protect her children and herself. This isn’t a typical Medea, driven solely by vengeance. This will be a Medea of our time, a reflection of countless women throughout history who have been forced to the brink of fear, exile, and the desperate need for safety.

The play will witness the raw emotions of a mother on the edge, a woman grappling with the unthinkable. It asks these questions: Is she a monster capable of unimaginable acts? Or is she a survivor, clinging to the last shreds of her humanity in a world that has stripped her of everything?

But what prompted Rebecca to recreate this ancient play? 

“I’ve always returned to stories of this experience of what it means to be a woman,” she says. “I think a lot about how women are represented in stories and the place that literature holds for them. Even as a young literature student, I was fascinated with Medea. To create a performance piece with this character has always been on my bucket list.”

Rebecca also found the play’s themes of war, exile, and statelessness still relevant. So, she started creating it with Kirtana in November 2022. 

Rebecca and Kirtana wanted to make Medea relevant to the local audience but avoided Indianising it.