Nebojša Pop-Tasić, Karin Komljanec
Medusa
Medusa is mostly known and referred to in her final form, i.e. as a monstrous, malevolent, destructive creature, while the causes and reasons for her monstrosity are usually glossed over. Her monstrosity was not innate, it was not part of her personality, it was neither a choice nor a decision.
The ancient Greek myth of Medusa is a starting point of the author’s project by Karin Komljanec.
Medusa was a young lady, a priestess who served in the temple of Athena. Poseidon, god of the sea, raped her, and when Athena, goddess of warfare and wisdom, found this out, she was enraged, because he invaded the sanctity of her temple. She blamed Medusa for the rape, since she was attractive and beautiful, and punished her by turning her into a monstrous creature - a woman with snakes in her hair. After the rape, Medusa lived in a sea cave, hunting men who turned to stone if they locked gaze with her, until the great hero Perseus beheaded her. He later used her head as a murder weapon and finally gave it as a votive gift to Athena.
The production is set now, here, in our world. At the very end of Medusa‘s story. It does not glorify the role of the victim, but rather explores the historical and current causes that brought about a paradoxical shift of blame from the perpetrator to the victim. It is about sexual attraction that is biologically determined, but socially unwelcome. Biologically correct, but socially incorrect. Historically neglected, but extremely emphasised. The women of today, particularly some of those who appear on the catwalk, and those who cultivate their public image on social networks, are often made to look monstrous in their desire to be attractive.
Medusa, 2023
Monodrama author's project
World premiere
Premiere: 9. December 2023
Performance length is 1 hour and 0 minutes and has no pause.
Creators
Author of the concept
Karin Komljanec
Dramaturg
Eva Mahkovic
Set and costume designer
Katja Komljanec Koritnik
Choreographer
Veronika Valdés
Video designer
Jure Stušek
Composers
Nebojša Pop-Tasić, Valentin Pop-Tasič
Language consultant
Maja Cerar
Lighting designer
Andrej Koležnik
Sound designer
Gašper Zidanič
Make-up artist
Anja Blagonja
Illustration designers
Katja Komljanec Koritnik, Erika Ivanušič
Actors
Karin Komljanec
Karin Komljanec has performed some sixty theatre roles and more than twenty film and television roles over more than two decades. In the course of her career, she has too often been confronted with stereotypical and deep-rooted perceptions of women that she has been unable to overcome. Therefore, she tackles Medusa’s story with a good measure of self-irony and humour, aware of the absurdity, tragedy and poetry of her chosen subject matter.
Medusa‘s story is essentially a paradigmatic story of the victim‘s guilt, not the perpetrator‘s. It is about the guilt of a woman, not a man. The more attractive the female body is, i.e. the more biologically appropriate for the continuation of the lineage, the more guilty it is of provoking the male sex drive.
The women of today, particularly some of those who appear on the catwalk, and those who cultivate their public image on social networks, are often made to look monstrous in their desire to be attractive. In this production, the actress explores her attitude towards her own body, which is one of the primary means of expression in her profession, an attitude with a body that has become a public object. She deals with the absurd historical, social and moral facts that have, on the one hand, glorified female beauty and, on the other, horrifically repressed it by making monsters, witches, murderers, prostitutes and generally morally questionable personalities out of beauty.