The enduring relevance of Greek tragedy is persuasively demonstrated in Euripides' Medea, which shockingly suggests murderous violations of the sacred bond between a mother and child cannot be explained away as madness or evil.
The play asks us to consider the potential for unspeakable violence lies within each of us and the unsettling power of this idea is heightened in Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks' brilliant reworking of the classic, brought to Auckland by Silo Theatre.
With a contemporary flipping of the script, their version tells the story from the perspective of the two children who are the innocent and unknowing victims of their mother's deadly scheming.
Medea's ruthless vengeance on her unfaithful husband is all but ignored and instead we are confronted with the horrifying reality that families are not always what they seem and the loving nurture that children expect from their parents can be tragically perverted.
The slow-burning impact of the production stems from the way it draws us into the child's point-of-view with an utterly charming vision of two brothers stepping in and out of make-believe worlds and using casual distractions to block out emotions too painful to endure.
