I understand how terrible my crime is,
but passion is stronger than my mind –
it draws mortals to all crimes.
/Euripides, Medea/
Director Reinis Suhanovs explores a myth dating back more than 2 000 years about a woman who left everything behind – her homeland and her home to build a conjugal temple with her husband – and rises difficult and existential questions: “What to do with the burning, uncontrollable passion that destroys the family temple? Should you smother the flame if you are burning? Does the betrayed Medea have the right to destroy in the most terrible way possible all that has been built?”
The audience is faced with complex ethical questions, however in this gloom of confusion and deception, as in every true tragedy, through catharsis there is also a pointer to the exit. “Time is so cruel, so I see no contradiction in talking about cruelty in theater as well,” says Reinis Suhanovs.
The performance is also a creative dialogue between the students of master scenographer and Latvian Academy of Art lecturer Andris Freibergs (1938–2022) – Reinis Suhanovs and Monika Korpa.
***
The performance is supported by the Borisa and Ināras Teterevu Foundation for Valmiera Theatre’s 2025/2026 season. Continuing the powerful collaboration, four new productions will be staged in the new season.
To date, nine new productions have been brought to audiences with the support of the foundation. Five of these were staged during the 2024/2025 season: Romeo and Juliet (directed by Inese Mičule), Blue (directed by Māra Ķimele), Sprīdītis (directed by Reinis Suhanovs), Four White Shirts (directed by Jānis Znotiņš) and The Magic Mountain (directed by Toms Treinis).
The friendship between the theatre and the foundation began in the theatre’s centenary season 2023/2024 when four classics of Latvian drama were staged: The Boys of Valmiera (directed by Jānis Znotiņš), The Widow’s Son (directed by Viesturs Roziņš), as well as publicly and critically acclaimed Joseph and His Brothers (directed by Inese Mičule), and The Prodigal Son (directed by Reinis Suhanovs).
