Excluded, Integrated, Accepted - Medea in Konstanz Workshop from 20.-22. June

Abstract

Can we use ancient drama, and Euripides’ Medea in particular, to find solutions of social and individual conflicts? During the workshop, via sociodramatic game based on the ancient myth, we will explore the terms of status, being and feeling foreign, integrated, accepted, and excluded. The participants experience a shift in their view on the other and on themselves.

How it works?

After brief familiarization and physical warm-up, the participants in the workshop build and ancient city together, give it a name and make a symbolic shield to protect it from harm. The participants are then divided into two groups: the Medea group and the Jason group. The Medea group, which includes Medea and her children, is invited to build a hotel outside the city, and the Jason group, which includes Jason and his new wife, is invited to build a palace. Someone is chosen to play the gods who watch the war between the groups and interfere at crucial moments. Members of Medea group must figure out how to get revenge on Jason, who has abandoned his family for a better marriage, while members of Jason army must come up with a plan how to expel Medea from the city so that she does not interfere with Jason’s future happiness. In order determined by the “gods”, each of the groups plays out their plan. The gods give the symbolic shield of the city to the group who must guard themselves against the plan of the adversary. After the game, the participants are invited to share their experiences.