그리스 비극 「메데이아」 각색 과정에 대한 소고(小考) — 「메디아 환타지」를 중심으로

Abstract

This article interprets the complex meaning of the “child-killing” motif which became problematic and the identity of the stranger Medea by focusing on both the 1995 and 2019 performances of the Medea Fantasy, a Korean adaptation of “Medea” by Euripides. It is an analysis of how the female reenactment in Greek tragedies is implemented depending on the performance sites in Korea by looking at the performance in Seoul, directed by Kim Ahra in 1995 and the performance in Romania, directed by Jung Wooson in 2019. Script adaptation is political because it reflects the writer’s time and space and selects what should be adopted and excluded. This article takes notice that the interpretation of Medea varies depending on who, when, and where the reenactment and the re-performance of Medea occurs. The difference between the Medea Fantasy and the “Medea” by Euripides is that the adaptation adds a scene of Jason’s marriage party and that there is a part for Medea’s soul. The play depicts the process of Medea’s revenge as of her soul, who died after revenge and thus could not leave this world, searches for her forgotten memory. Medea Fantasy is a story of “recovering memories” by the soul of Medea. Unlike Medea, depicted by Euripides, who was pessimistic about her role as a arried wife, Medea of the Medea Fantasy defines herself as a daughter who betrayed her father and has to overcome the patriarchal society represented by her father . In the adapted performance for the 2019 Babel International Performing Arts Festival, Creon’s daughter actively pleads to Creon to give her the Crown, not to Jacob. Creon’s daughter who did not appear in Euripides’ Medea appears shortly in the 1995 adaptation as a victim later appears in the 2019 adaptation with her own voice demanding for the succession of the Crown. Also, the chorus appeared in the 1995 adaptation as the divided alternate ego of Medea later appears in the 2019 adaptation as Korean females in their 20s who are angry at the threat of illegal filming. While middle-aged actresses played as the divided Medea with other famous actresses, accepted the original form of Medea as one in the 1995 adaptation, the chorus separates themselves from the original form of Medea as identifies as the older generation in the 2019 adaptation. Medea who was known as a ‘lioness’, a ‘savage’ and an ‘animal’ finally finds her name by putting together her separated identities in the 1995 adaptation and finally proclaims herself as a human being moving away from theideaofgender in the 2019 adaptation. Medea’s self-proclamation is obtained by castrating her mother. Medea, from being a daughter who betrayed her father to being cornered by revenge against her husband, completely dismantles the patriarchal framework through “killing her own child.” Medea’s ‘child-killing’ represents a violent era for women.