One of the highlights of the Classics calendar at King’s is the annual Greek Play.
Although classical drama has been performed at the university since the late nineteenth century, the Greek Play in its current form was inaugurated in 1953. King’s remains the only university in the country to perform a piece of Greek drama wholly or partially in the original language each and every academic year.
The play is overseen by national-touring theatre company Actors of Dionysus, ‘the UK’s leading interpreters of ancient Greek drama’ who have been performing Greek tragedy, comedy and new writing inspired by myth, since 1993.
King's Greek Play 9-11 March 2027: MEDEA
‘What use is life to me?
I have no land, no home, no refuge from despair,
No husband, the only refuge I had left'
A woman navigating an alien city. Betrayed by her husband. Left with neither refuge nor counsel, except for the dark pit of her mind. In this adaptation of Euripides’ original production, the eponymous leading role is highlighted as the ‘other’: the mother, the exile, the sorcerer, the murderess. The one who does not belong. Fueled by physical theatre effects, an edgy design approach, and this thematic lens, this year’s KCL Greek Play performs an innovative take on Medea’s descent into madness.
The play connects more than ever with our modern political climate, with immigration and the topic of national ‘belonging’ at the forefront of Western politics, as well as trials such as the unfolding Lindsay Clancy trial causing global division. MEDEA will bring to audiences devastation and a thousand new questions about the damage Medea leaves in her trail of grief. See Medea, Jason, Glauce and Creon in a brand new light on 9-11th of March 2027.