Medea

“I know how terrible my crime is, but passion is stronger than my reason—it drives mortals to every crime.” /Euripides, Medea/ Director Reinis Suhanovs unfolds the more than 2,000-year-old myth of a woman who left everything—her homeland and home—to build, together with her husband, a temple to their life together, by raising difficult and existential questions: “What should be done with a passion that has caught fire and spun out of control, sweeping along the temple of a family? Should the flames be contained if you are burning? Does the betrayed Medea, in her resentment, have the right to tear down what she has built in the most terrible way, down to its foundations?” The audience can expect to grapple with complex ethical questions, but in this darkness of confusion and delusion, as in every true tragedy, catharsis also offers an arrow pointing towards the exit. “Time is so cruel, so I see no contradiction in speaking about cruelty in the theatre as well,” says Reinis Suhanovs.

The production is also special as a creative dialogue between scenography master and Latvian Academy of Arts lecturer Andris Freibergs (1938–2022)’s students, Reinis Suhanovs and Monika Korpa. The production has received nominations for the 2025/2026 “Spēlmaņu nakts” season in the categories:

The production was created with the support of the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation in Valmiera Theatre’s 2025/2026 season.

With the Foundation’s support, the following productions reached audiences in the 2026/2027 season: The Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (director Indra Roga).

In the 2025/2026 season: The Evil Spirit (director Inese Mičule), Medea (director Reinis Suhanovs), You Will Be Mine! (director Jānis Znotiņš), Skroderdienas Silmačos (director Elmārs Seņkovs).

In the 2024/2025 season: Romeo and Juliet (director Inese Mičule), Blue (director Māra Ķimele), Sprīdītis (director Reinis Suhanovs), Four White Shirts (director Jānis Znotiņš) and The Magic Mountain (director Toms Treinis).

The friendship between the theatre and the Foundation began in the 2023/2024 season—the theatre’s centenary—when four works from the classics of Latvian dramaturgy were staged: Valmiera Boys (director Jānis Znotiņš), The Widow’s Son (director Viesturs Roziņš), as well as Joseph and His Brothers (director Inese Mičule) and The Prodigal Son (director Reinis Suhanovs), which received particular acclaim from audiences and critics.