We didn’t really believe it. Converting the devastating rage of Medea, murderer of her two children following the betrayal of her husband Jason, into an apparently light and, what is more, feminist musical show seemed an unrealizable challenge. And yet, British choreographer Ben Duke, 49, achieved the feat. His show Ruination. The True Story of Medea, presented on July 31, 2024 as part of the Venice Dance Biennale, and on view, from January 21 to 26, at the Théâtre des Abbesses, in Paris, defies all clichés by dressing up the Greek myth in vibrant colors.
Read the review (in 2024): Article reserved for our subscribers The Venice Dance Biennale seeks humanity in gestures
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-Ben Duke, fond of spectacular adaptations of stories like Juliet & Romeo (2018) or Cerberus (2022), inspired by the three-headed dog of the underworld in Greek mythology, cleverly frames its subject in a trial confronting Medea and Jason. Everyone throws their point of view into the balance, under the close supervision of Hades. The master of the kingdom of the dead, very dapper with his pink ruffled tutu, welcomes us in a morgue, soon transformed into a court, rebalancing Medea’s heavily loaded tray.
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