HEADLONG

Dylan Tighe's reworking of the Medea myth is about as comprehensive as reworks get. The piece takes as one starting point Lars von Trier's film. No one except Medea even speaks out loud. In addition there are recorded readings of Roland Barthes's 'Mythologies' in French, speeches by Winston Churchill, and videos of the director talking about his concept all mixed in with a musique concrete soundscape by Sean Og.



The production as arresting visually as it is aurally. Tighe foregrounds the tale's mythic status and theatre's innate dependence on interpretation, before deconstructing the idea of mythology and the concept of interpretation itself. Rather than popping everyone in classical garb and letting the resonances take care of themselves, Tighe continually suggests new possibilities. Medea appears initially dressed in what looks like an Islamic headscarf. Everything is pregnant with possible meaning. Is Tighe suggesting a link between Medea's infanticide and the indoctrination of suicide bombers? The piece doesn't offer answers, but instead demands to be thought about.



The slow pace will not appeal to everyone, but perhaps if viewed more as an installation than what we British tend to think of as theatre, this can be seen as intelligent, European-style dramaturgy.