About the work
"Medea in Kolchis" (Medea in Colchis), subtitled "Eine Rekonstruktion" (A Reconstruction), is the fourth episode of Roland Schimmelpfennig's cycle "Fremde Sonne. Die Argonauten. Iason. Medea." and forms an evening of its own at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg. Karin Beier directs the world premiere on 27 September 2026 with a cast of four. The text was published by S. Fischer in September 2026 together with the other plays of the cycle.
Plot
Jason, Medea and her father Aeetes meet with the dead Absyrtus, Medea's brother, in a room that suggests a therapy session, a psychiatric ward or the underworld. Together they try to reconstruct what happened around the Golden Fleece: why Medea helped the stranger Jason and who is to blame for Absyrtus being cut to pieces.
Cultural significance
The play asks how telling a story afterwards shapes what those involved take to be reality. It links the Argonauts' voyage of the first evening with the Medea tragedies in Corinth and Athens.