Ser Medeia agora - reescrever a violência

Abstract

How can we deal with Medea's myth in this 21st century? In these times troubled by covid, torn apart by war, what role does Medea's cruelty play? What does challenge us in this myth today: the woman, the mother, the sorceress, the filicide? Or something else, even broader, and more unspeakable? Is there a place for the violence that comes from myth, in a world where violence, not just fictional, has reached an unusual intensity? Part of the answer, and a good basis for keeping this set of questions alive, can be found in two contemporary plays, by the Portuguese playwright, director and actor Luís Mestre: a 2012 play, Agora sou Medeia (Now I am Medea), and a 2022 monologue, shorter, Medeiadoispontozero (Medeatwopointzero). Exploring mainly the second of these theatrical texts - which reinvents Medea's voice and inscribes her in a framework of extreme violence - I present a critical reading on this new version of Medea's myth that, using careful and bold intelligence, mixes traditional motives with others surprisingly new.